US VP, Mexican president meet to discuss migration

METEPEC, Mexico

US Vice President Kamala Harris met Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and discussed migration from Central America and southern Mexico during a visit to Mexico.

“Meeting of President [Andres Manuel] Lopez Obrador and Vice President Kamala Harris concludes. The economy and high-level dialogue, cooperation for security, development in southern Mexico and Central America were addressed. It was a very successful meeting !!,” Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard wrote on Twitter.

“The United States joined Mexico in a new strategic partnership to share information and strategies and co-manage new programs to foster economic opportunity through agricultural development and youth empowerment” to address root causes of migration in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, according to the White House.

Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry and the United States Agency for International Development signed a memorandum of cooperation to tackle the root causes of migration that was witnessed by Harris and Lopez Obrador.

Lopez Obrador detailed highlights of his meeting with Harris during a news conference.

"The central issue is immigration. We have already been talking so that jointly through the operation for development and well-being and also for security, we can have an answer to the migratory phenomenon, which is a fundamentally social issue that is produced by the lack of opportunities in towns in Central America," he said.

Mexico proposed expanding social programs to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, according to Ebrard.

The projects consist of a reforestation program and vocational assistance programs for young adults.

The programs are already financed and implemented in El Salvador and Honduras and will be soon in Guatemala, with Mexico asking the US to expand the reach of the projects.