MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexican president lands in Colombia for talks with Petro

AMLO and Petro attended the closing of a conference on drugs in Cali

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador met in Cali with his Colombian colleague Gustavo Petro on the first day of his official trip to Colombia, it was reported. Both heads of state attended the closing of the three-day Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Drugs.

“The leaders will have a preamble dinner to the Conference on Drugs, a space that will discuss the current problems in order to move towards a new policy to fight drugs,” the Colombian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

”It gives me great pleasure to be here in Cali, in Colombia, and to have this meeting with my brother and colleague (...) I come to fraternally greet President Petro,“ said AMLO.

”The strategic alliance. To configure a great Latin American agreement on drug policy and immigration policy. With Mexico we will propose the change of Debt for Climate Action,“ Petro wrote on social media. ”With Mexico, we will propose to exchange Debt for Climate Action,” he added.

Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, who traveled alongside AMLO, is expected to sign a Letter of Intent on Bilateral Cooperation for the Mexican Agency of International Cooperation for Development (Amexcid) to implement the Sembrando Vida and Jóvenes Construyendo el Futuro programs in Colombia, and to make preparations for the XI meeting of the Joint Commission for Scientific and Technical Cooperation, it was reported through a communiqué.

In addition, a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed with the office of the Colombian Vice President, Francia Márquez Mina, to strengthen and promote the rights of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples.