European Council President António Costa told the Mexican Senate in a speech on Thursday that the European Union and Mexico are moving ahead with a commitment for all-out collaboration.
He spoke ahead of the signing of a modernised EU–Mexico Global Agreement at a summit in Mexico City, more than a decade after the last leaders’ meeting.
Costa told Mexico’s Senate the summit would be the eighth between the EU and Mexico, and would take place 26 years after the original Global Agreement came into force, as cited by the European Council press service.
He said the existing agreement had helped generate 5.5 million jobs in Mexico, alongside €82 billion in trade in goods and more than €25 billion in trade in services.
The EU was Mexico’s second-largest investor with €209 billion in accumulated investment, and Mexico was the EU’s second-largest trading partner in Latin America and its largest in the region by trade per capita.
Trade, investment and joint priorities
Costa stressed that the modernised agreement would remove additional tariffs and expand opportunities for Mexican companies to export to and invest in the EU.
He said the updated deal would also cover political dialogue and cooperation in areas including security, migration, climate and the environment, innovation and human rights.
Costa thanked President Claudia Sheinbaum for “relaunching” relations with the EU and enabling the agreement’s signature, and said the EU’s Global Gateway Investment Agenda would support her government’s “Mexico Plan.”
Global Gateway is the EU’s programme for funding international infrastructure and connectivity projects.
He said the EU wanted to increase investment in Mexico, including in clean energy, digitalisation, sustainable infrastructure, technology industries and supply chains.
Costa also repeated the EU’s position on the war in Ukraine, calling Russia’s invasion “unacceptable” and saying the EU would support efforts towards a peace that respects Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
