This week the presidents of Mexico and the United States and the prime minister of Canada met at the Tenth Summit of North American Leaders, from which they announced agreements on asylum for migrants, the fight against arms trafficking, as well as a strategic route to prevent eventual health crises. Although issues such as inclusion, climate change or competitiveness were addressed, there was no discussion, for example, of controversies related to the USMCA regarding the energy policy of our country.
Undoubtedly, it was an important opportunity to resume relations after years of diplomatic estrangement, in addition to the fact that we are living in a complex context not only nationally but also internationally, which interestingly could lead to an increase in competitiveness in the region. In this scenario we must consider events such as the Russian invasion and the subsequent energy crisis in Europe, the zero policy due to the covid-19 pandemic in China after the important outbreaks that are occurring, and the phenomenon of regionalization of value chains that occurs in other global latitudes.
The route of productive projects under the nearshoring scheme proposed by the United States and Canada is very interesting, with which they intend to respond to the semiconductor crisis, taking advantage of the human and geostrategic potential that Mexico represents from the North American perspective and within that route. address issues related to security, climate change and inequality. Despite the fact that, diplomatically and discursively, it is attractive to promote a rapprochement with Latin America and Asia, the reality is that the strengthening of these ties does promote perceptible development in Mexico.
Unfortunately, social issues such as migration, arms and substance trafficking were marginalized. In terms of security, the meeting did not lead to tangible results despite the fact that in Mexico and the United States, cross-border violence related to organized crime causes the death of thousands of people annually, not counting those victims of substance abuse such as fentanyl who have turned the issue into a national security issue north of our borders.
In this sense, there were also no agreements or approaches to strengthen security or justice institutions, particularly in cybersecurity matters. While in the United States it is a priority issue, here terabytes of military information can be leaked without generating a substantive change in Mexican digital security strategies.
It never hurts to question not addressing issues related to corruption and impunity, however, as in everything, the symbolic is what remains in the end.
