Mexico City- January 30, 2024
- During the ceremony, Marco Mena, Director General of the National Lottery presented the commemorative ticket for the draw to be held on February 4, 2024.
- Likewise, diplomas were awarded to the third generation of the Mexico-Canada Youth Lab, a project that incorporates the priorities of youth in the diplomatic management of both countries.
Yesterday, Canada’s Ambassador to Mexico, Graeme C. Clark, and the Head of the North America Unit, Roberto Velasco Álvarez, kicked off the celebrations of this historic milestone. Together with Mexican state and federal and Canadian provincial authorities, they commemorated eight decades of diplomatic relations, accompanied by key players from the private sector, academia and representatives of civil society.
Ambassador Clark said that beyond the anniversary, it is worth celebrating the great community of values that unites Canada with its Mexican friends and partners.
For his part, Velasco Álvarez conveyed the greetings and congratulations of Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena and recalled that this year also marks other milestones, including 50 years of the establishment of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (PTAT) and 20 years of the Canada-Mexico Partnership (CMA). The multiple bilateral mechanisms allow both nations to strengthen political dialogue in the face of growing trade, investment and mobility between the two countries.
“This relationship still has gigantic potential that will yield excellent news in the coming years. Let’s take this moment to celebrate, to continue working together so that this relationship remains a global example of friendship and the great partnership we have built,” he concluded.
The 80th anniversary of the relationship comes at a great bilateral moment, reflected in the multiple coincidences between our governments. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outlined an agenda for the future of the relationship in the document “Towards a Shared Future between Mexico and Canada”, announced in January 2023. The text outlines common priorities, including the rights of indigenous peoples, inclusion and diversity, the promotion of gender equity, combating climate change, the promotion of democracy, the rule of law and security in the hemisphere. In particular, a major point of convergence between the two countries is feminist foreign policy.
Also present at the event were the Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development, Víctor Villalobos Arámbula; the Governor of Aguascalientes, María Teresa Jiménez Esquivel; and the Minister of Agriculture of Ontario, Canada, Lisa Thompson.
This event marks the beginning of a year of activities that will reflect the depth and strength of the friendly relationship that unites Mexico and Canada as continental partners in the world’s most prosperous region and their willingness to continue working together towards a shared future.
