Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente spoke about the upcoming G20 Summit at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning press conference, or mañanera, on Friday.
Here is a summary of his remarks, as well as those made by the president in response to questions about her telephone conversation with Donald Trump and the “main challenge” of her six-year term in government.
The G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
De la Fuente told reporters that when Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva came to Mexico for Sheinbaum’s inauguration last month, he “reiterated” his interest in having Mexico’s new president attend the G20 Summit in Rio on Nov. 18 and 19.
“President Sheinbaum will be there the first day because she has decided … to return on the 19th to be here on the 20th for all the celebrations of the anniversary of the [Mexican] Revolution,” he said.
De la Fuente, formerly Mexico’s permanent representative to the United Nations, said that among the issues world leaders will discuss at the G20 meeting are the international economy, “the fight against hunger and poverty” and the energy transition.
He also said that various G20 countries have requested bilateral meetings with Mexico.
“I’m going to mention them in alphabetical order: Canada, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom. Obviously it won’t be possible to meet with all of them, there won’t be enough time, so we’re in the process of trying to establish [which meetings will go ahead],” de la Fuente said.
The foreign minister also noted that Sheinbaum is the only female leader who has so far confirmed she will attend the meeting in Rio.
The president herself said that Mexico’s delegation, including de la Fuente and Energy Minister Luz Elena González, will fly on a commercial airline to Brazil.
Her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, sold Mexico’s presidential plane to the government of Tajikistan last year.
Sheinbaum’s call with Trump
The president revealed that Donald Trump briefly raised “the issue of the border” during her call with the United States president-elect on Thursday.
“A time came when he said, ‘there’s the issue of the border,’ that’s all he said. And I said to him, ‘yes, there’s the issue of the border, but there will be … [another time] to talk about it,” she said
Sheinbaum said that Trump also sent his best wishes to López Obrador, “with whom he said he had a very good relationship,” and invited her to his inauguration in January.
“He said ‘see you soon,’ nos vemos pronto, in other words, and I said, ‘Yes, see you soon.'”
Sheinbaum subsequently said that having a good relationship with the United States is “one of the challenges” of her six-year term in government, albeit not the biggest.
The main challenge of Sheinbaum’s sexenio
Sheinbaum told reporters that the biggest challenge of her six-year term, or sexenio, and the one to which her government will dedicate the most time, is the construction of “well-being and peace in Mexico.”
The government will dedicate 24 hours a day to achieving that goal “if necessary,” she said.
Sheinbaum, like López Obrador, is dedicating huge amounts of money to social and welfare programs as she seeks to further reduce poverty and inequality in Mexico. She hopes that that focus will aid the government’s efforts to combat crime across the country.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
