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Blinken meets Lopez Obrador to reboot U.S.-Mexico ties, forge new security accord

08 October 2021 23:04 (UTC +04:00)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a visit to Mexico on Friday held talks with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, with both nations vowing to revitalize fractious relations and improve cooperation through a major new security agreement, APA reports quoting Reuters.

The top U.S. diplomat visits Mexico at a time when the Biden administration is increasingly reliant on its southern neighbor to stem the flow of Latin American migrants heading to the United States.

Blinken's visit is part of the Biden administration's first U.S.-Mexico High-Level Security Dialogue, in which the two countries will negotiate a sweeping new agreement on how to tackle everything from drug flows to the United States to the smuggling of U.S.-made guns into Mexico.

Overhauling the Merida Initiative accord, under which the United States channeled about $3.3 billion since 2007 to help Mexico fight crime, is expected to take many months as the two sides work out how best to work together following a period of strained cooperation.