As part of the broader strategic partnership between the United States and Mexico, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will host the Merida Initiative High-Level Consultative Group on April 29, 2011. This third meeting of the High-Level Group follows earlier meetings held in November 2008 in Washington, D.C., and March 2010 in Mexico City.
Under the leadership of Secretary of State Clinton and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Espinosa, and comprising cabinet secretaries from across each government engaged on security-related issues, the High Level Consultative Group will focus on the four areas of cooperation identified by U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa in August 2009 in Guadalajara, Mexico, and reaffirmed during President Calderon’s State Visit to Washington in May 2010 and his working visit to Washington in March 2011. These areas are: Disrupting Organized Criminal Groups; Institutionalizing the Rule of Law; Building a 21st Century Border; and Building Strong and Resilient Communities.
The High-Level Consultative Group will renew a shared commitment to achieving long-term solutions to challenges to the rule of law driven by transnational organized crime, underscoring that the United States and Mexico will meet these challenges through enhanced engagement and shared responsibility.
