EU-Mexico Top op 17 juni - Montesquieu Instituut

EUCO 113/12

PRESSE 260

PR PCE 96

EU-Mexico Summit

(Los Cabos, Mexico, 17 June 2012)

The next European Union-Mexico Summit will take place on 17 June in Los Cabos, Mexico, in the margins of the G20 Summit hosted by the Mexican Presidency. The EU will be represented by Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, and by José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, accompanied by EEAS Secretary General Pierre Vimont. Mexico will be represented by President Felipe Calderon, accompanied by Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa.

"The Summit will be an important occasion to reaffirm how much we value our Strategic Partnership with Mexico. I look forward to discussions with President Calderón on a broad range of interesting topics, such as economy and trade, security and human rights, and the environment. We are keen to further strengthen the EU-Mexico relationship and would like to explore the possibility to renew our Global Agreement, which dates from the year 2000. We will also reiterate the EU's support for the priorities of the Mexican G20 Presidency and President Calderón, who will be chairing the G20 Summit", President Van Rompuy stated.

President Barroso said: "This 6th EU-Mexico Summit constitutes a new milestone in the path of our already outstanding relations. It goes to show how deeply EU and Mexico relations have taken root. Our Strategic Partnership further strengthened our bilateral relations and helped us to coordinate our positions in the multilateral arena, as we can see today on the eve of an important G20 Summit. EU and Mexico share very similar views on most issues of our relations and on the global stage. We can positively say that Mexico and the EU are like-minded partners. And that Mexico has become, also thanks to President Calderón, a game-changer in the international stage. Mexico has become one among our essential partners, not only in Latin America but also on the global scale."

At the summit in Los Cabos, leaders are expected to exchange views on bilateral issues, such as the political and economic situation in the EU and Mexico, the Strategic Partnership, security and the strengthening of bilateral trade relations. Also, multilateral questions, such as sustainable development, climate change and human rights will be the object of intense discussion, together with an exchange of views on the relations between the EU and the community of Latin American and the Caribbean states (CELAC).