A redesign of its foreign policy based on the principle of nonintervention is the way in which Mexico tries to give “new answers” to a world that suffers “deep changes”.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said at the opening of the XXX Meeting of Ambassadors and Consuls in Mexico City that, in order to achieve these answers, “we do not appeal only to tradition, but also to imagination.
Ebrard addressed members of the diplomatic service, lawmakers and business representatives at a meeting held from January 7 to 11. From the encounter will emerge the design that will mark the Mexican foreign policy during the presidential term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
There he pointed out the general character of the international scene for these times. “We are in a global context with profound changes. Some very clear and very sharp, and others perhaps not so much, but they will have far-reaching implications”, said the chancellor.
The intention of Mexico is to make its presence felt in aspects of great global relevance such as the protection of human rights, the enhancement of democratic values or the climate change.
“They are global causes we identify with. We also want to have close and productive bilateral relations with the greatest number of countries”, stressed the Aztec foreign minister.
The complicated relationship with the United States was addressed under the following guidelines: “To think, to design and to apply” a “coexistence and correlation” policy, because the region “demands very difficult challenges today”.
A “different relationship” must be established with the Asian countries, and with regard to Europe, it is necessary to go beyond the modernization of the Global Agreement.
Concerning the Middle East and Africa, Ebrard pointed out the need to “review the positioning” that Mexico may have with these world regions.
The chancellor explained that supported by the Mexican Constitution, the country will be governed from now on under the principles of non-intervention, peaceful resolution of conflicts and self-determination of peoples.
With these words, he refused to comment on Venezuela. Mexico did not sign the recent declaration of the Lima Group, which condemned the dictatorship in the South American country.
Ebrard, who describes himself as “optimistic but not naive”, made clear that “no intervention does not mean passivity” referring to development plans for reducing migration to the north.
Hence the importance, according to his words, of generating “congruence” between causes defended inside and outside their borders through the application of concrete policies.
Keeping a “close relationship” with the business sector will be a key element for economic promotion abroad.
Special attention will be given to cultural aspects, innovation and scientific-technological development within this ambitious plan.
The Secretary of the Interior of Mexico, Olga Sanchez Cordero, stated the importance of the human rights perspective in the management of migration events.
Cordero highlighted the caravans of Central American migrants as an example for the application of these principles.
The human treatment of migrants will serve as a basis for government decisions concerning this aspect. In his words, “the policy of the Mexican Government will be based on a humanitarian vision. It assumes the inevitable need to consider the decisions that the Government of the United States will adopt about it”.
By: José Espinoza
