Mexico to spend $1.5bn on modernising US border
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says his government will spend $1.5bn (£1.26bn) on modernising his country’s border with the US.
He made the announcement after he met US President Joe Biden at the White House.
In a joint statement, the Mexican president called for a “bold programme” to deal with the record number of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border.
The two men also said they would step up the fight against drug trafficking.
US President Biden had earlier described the flow of migrants as “a shared hemispheric challenge”.
Since he took office, there has been a record influx of migrants crossing into the US from its southern border with Mexico, with more than 2.8 million arrests made during his presidency.
The meeting between the two leaders came a month after Mr López Obrador refused an invitation to attend the US-hosted Summit of the Americas, saying he would not go unless the Cuban, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan presidents were also invited.
Mr López Obrador’s no-show at the summit was a low point in what have been sometimes tense relations between the two leaders.
But on Tuesday, Mr Biden described Mexico as an “equal partner” and told his Mexican counterpart that “despite the overhyped headlines we sometimes see, you and I have a strong, productive relationship”.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES