Biden Leads U.S. Delegation for Third Meeting with the High-Level Economic Dialogue

Today, Vice President Biden led the U.S. delegation for the third meeting of the U.S.-Mexico High-Level Economic Dialogue (HLED) in Mexico City.  Since 2013, the HLED has served as the premier economic forum for the United States and Mexico to advance bilateral and multilateral economic priorities, foster entrepreneurship, create jobs, strengthen competitiveness, and drive growth and innovation.  Co-chaired for the United States by the Departments of Commerce and State and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and for Mexico by the Ministries of Economy, Finance, and Foreign Relations, the HLED meets annually at the Cabinet level and throughout the year at the sub-Cabinet level.

At today’s meeting, both sides underscored the significant achievements reached throughout the past year within the six priority areas:  modern borders, energy, workforce development, regulatory cooperation, regional and global leadership, and stakeholder engagement.   Both sides recognized the need to build on the previous year’s momentum in 2016 and ensure the sustainability of the HLED.  Recognizing potential opportunities to increase coordination and harmonization, the United States and Mexico agreed to integrate activities on sustainability and telecommunications into the HLED discussions, as well as to develop a mechanism for binational border infrastructure prioritization.

On the U.S. side, the Vice President was joined today by Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, as well as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Robert Holleyman, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Under Secretary of State Catherine Novelli, and other senior representatives from Departments of State, Transportation, Treasury, and Agriculture and the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.  On the Mexican side, representatives included Minister-level participation by the Ministries of Finance, Foreign Relations, Economy, Energy, Environment and Natural Resources, Communications and Transport, Agriculture, Labor, and Tourism, together with the Office of the President, the investment promotion agency ProMexico, the National Institute for Entrepreneurship, and others. 

From the beginning, the HLED has benefitted from the input of an active stakeholder community in guiding the two governments.   Prior to start of the government-to-government HLED meeting, the Vice President joined a roundtable with representatives from the U.S. and Mexican private sector, think tanks, and civil society organizations to hear their views and recommendations for the HLED.  The Vice President commended the stakeholders for their contributions to making the U.S.-Mexico relationship one of the most consequential in the world and encouraged the community to maintain active dialogue with the two governments. 

Source: The Office of the Vice President