US, Mexico to hold first High-Level Security Dialogue to address both nations' concerns

US Secretary of State, Attorney General and Homeland Security Secretary will meet with their Mexican counterparts on Friday, 8 October, in a bid to discuss a new security agreement. According to CNN, a senior Biden administration official informed that State Secretary Antony Blinken, AG General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will meet their Mexican counterparts in Mexico to discuss ‘US-Mexico Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health and Safe Communities’. 

Blinken will lead the Friday delegation. He will be meeting with Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The White House has described the upcoming meeting as the 'first US-Mexico High-Level Security Dialogue'. 

Speaking to reporters, the official said, “The United States and Mexico recognize the need to adapt bilateral security cooperation to address the concerns and priorities of both governments. Our security challenges are shared, and so is the responsibility for resolving them."

On Friday, the United States and Mexico will possibly replace or update the $3 billion Merida Initiative, which is a 2008 pact meant to fight drug trafficking and organised crime. US State Department spokesman Ned Price had said that the Merida Initiative has been on the books for 13 years now. Price added that the US believes that an updated look at the bilateral security cooperation was due. 

“We need an approach that addresses the concerns and the priorities of both governments, and this will really be one of the core elements of the discussions tomorrow,” Price said during a news briefing. 

'Balanced and sustainable appraoch' 

Another senior Biden administration official said that the new approach to security will be “balanced and sustainable” and will look not just at security challenges but also the factors that create them. Additionally, the new framework will also address the flow of guns from the US into Mexico. The official said that the new agreement will make clear the commitment of both nations. They added that the two sides will work together to trace firearms, investigate and prosecute traffickers and will also see that they are held accountable on both sides of the border. 

Price said that the United States hopes to preserve "significant gains" from the Merida Initiative. He said that the US also wants to see that cooperation is deepened, and wants to have an updated approach that accounts for the threats of today and the threats that have evolved over the course of around 15 years. However, he added that it is not yet clear what form a new security agreement would take. 

(Image: AP)