Argentina, Mexico sign strategic co-op agreement
August 1, 2007 - 0:0
MEXICO CITY (Xinhua) -- Visiting Argentine President Nestor Kirchner and his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon on Monday signed a strategic agreement to boost bilateral cooperation in a wide-ranging of fields.
The agreement covers such areas as education, politics, culture, science, technology and fighting organized crime, and stipulates that the two presidents will meet every two years and their foreign ministers will meet every year to discuss issues of mutual concern.Kirchner said the agreement would help fight poverty in the region, improve quality of life and promote human development, equity and social justice.
For his part, Calderon called the deal the keystone in the nation's diplomatic strategy and would facilitate Latin American and Caribbean integration against world globalization.
Analysts say the agreement represents the calming of diplomatic tension between the two. In 2005, then Mexican president Vicente Fox said that Kirchner had mishandled the Summit of the Americas, held in the Argentine city of Mar del Plata and Kirchner responded that Fox should stick to Mexican matters.
In 2006, Mexican exports to Argentina reached 952 million U.S. dollars, up 42 percent from 2005, and imports climbed 38 percent to 1.978 billion dollars.
Kirchner is on a three-day official visit to Mexico alongside his wife, senator Cristina Fernandez, who is a candidate for the Argentine presidency in October elections