Mexico and Jordan — a close friendship

My visit to Jordan aims to stress our friendship, consolidate our understandings and promote our cooperation.

I am delighted to be present here to follow up on the commitments undertaken during His Majesty King Abdullah’s official visit to Mexico last February.

When Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and His Majesty the King decided to bring about unprecedented dynamism to our relations, they had a clear vision about the strategic importance of creating a frank and active closeness between our two countries.

Thus, they decided to deepen political dialogue, develop economic ties, further cooperate and advance together.

Mexico and Jordan have profound historic roots and enjoy a rich cultural and natural heritage. Ours are two nations committed to move forward and work towards peace, security and development.

We share values and we are eager to act constructively and responsibly within all forums so as to address the multiple challenges posed by the present international and regional scenarios.

Mexico is a country at peace, undergoing a transformation and capable of generating prosperity in the short, medium and long terms.

It is also a global player of weight willing to strengthen its sincere and valuable friendship with Jordan nearly 40 years after the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations.

As a responsible global actor, Mexico has a vested interest in strengthening its relations with Jordan, a key player in the Middle East, as part of our diplomatic efforts intended to expand and deepen our ties with this region.

Along with the accompanying delegation, we will hold talks and exchange points of views regarding the events taking place in our regions, as well as promote concrete measures aiming at boosting and diversifying our commercial exchanges, now that we are about to initiate negotiations for a free trade agreement and given our interest in creating more and better investment and business opportunities.

We are also present here to foster academic exchanges and the implementation of joint projects in the fields of education, culture and arts.

We will exchange experience and boost technical cooperation between our institutions, mainly related to security, health, and social protection and development.

Moreover, the governments of our countries will work together to set forth strategies for promoting tourism.

Besides increasing the number of visitors in both directions, we wish to create new products in terms of nature-based, adventure, sports, historical, religious and archaeological tourism.

Therefore, it is very important to conclude the negotiations on an air services agreement.

The visits of His Majesty King Abdullah and of Foreign Minister Nasser Jude to Mexico contributed to intensifying our dialogue and enabled direct consultations on numerous matters related to the regional and multilateral agendas.

The Mexican government acknowledges the Jordanian efforts aimed at addressing and alleviating the situation of the Syrian refugees on its territory, and will continue to contribute in this regard to the extent possible.

My visit to Amman comes as a result of the leadership and vision of our heads of state.

We will translate into action the signed agreements in order to put into effect activities, projects and joint investments that would yield concrete and fruitful outcomes.

We are about to start a new stage, a more active and productive one, since we have clear commitments and objectives, and above all, the will to act.

The friendly relations and the effective closeness between Mexico and Jordan will thrive and gain acknowledgement beyond our borders.

The writer is minister of foreign relations of Mexico. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.