On June 27, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Mexican Secretary of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo led a mid-year review of progress under the High Level Economic Dialogue (HLED). Presidents Obama and Peña Nieto established the HLED last year to advance strategic economic and commercial priorities central to promoting mutual economic growth, job creation, and global competitiveness. During the meeting, senior U.S. and Mexican government officials took stock of key accomplishments thus far on issues identified in the initial HLED work stream. The U.S. and Mexican governments have: The Mexico-U.S. Entrepreneurship and Innovation Council’s (MUSEIC) seven subcommittees developed work plans to foster cross-border entrepreneurship by strengthening the legal framework, improving access to capital, developing regional innovation clusters, expanding small business development infrastructure, facilitating technology commercialization, promoting women’s entrepreneurship, and engaging the U.S.-based Latin American diaspora. MUSEIC has defined milestones within those goals and is on track to meet them. The United States and Mexico intend to connect Mexican small business development centers with U.S. centers to help small business owners and entrepreneurs in both countries.
The next cabinet-level HLED meeting will take place in fall 2014.
HLED BACKGROUND In May 2013, President Obama and President Peña Nieto announced the formation of the U.S.-Mexico HLED to promote economic growth in the United States and Mexico, create jobs for citizens on both sides of the border, and ensure our nations can compete globally. In September 2013, Vice President Biden, together with Mexican counterparts, formally launched the HLED.
The HLED, led at the cabinet level, will meet annually, while sub-cabinet members work to achieve those goals throughout the year. Private sector leaders and other interested members of civil society will join their government colleagues to discuss how best to improve trade with an eye on making North America’s shared economy stronger and more efficient for workers and businesses.
The U.S. side is co-chaired by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of State, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and includes participation from other agencies, such as the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Homeland Security, Labor, Transportation, and Treasury, along with the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Mexican side is co-chaired by the Secretariats of Economy, Finance, and Foreign Relations, and includes participation from the Secretariats of Agriculture, Communications and Transportation, Education, Energy, and Tourism.
To achieve the goals of expanding opportunities for consumers, employees, entrepreneurs and business-owners on both sides of the border, Mexico and the United States developed an initial work plan in which both governments dedicated themselves to work together under three broad pillars: The HLED has already begun to produce measureable progress, and we will continue to push forward on key priorities as we prepare for the next Cabinet-level meeting in the fall.
For the HLED work stream specifics, click here.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED Although the U.S. Federal Register public comment period is closed, we invite interested parties to submit questions and feedback via the HLED website and e-mail. The HLED features continuous government-to-government engagement throughout the year.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
