Thank you very much, Mrs. Albright. Honorable Mrs. Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State of the United States of America, distinguished members of the delegations of Mexico and the United States of America, ladies and gentlemen. Today we begin the 15th meeting of the mechanism for bilateral dialogue and consultation - the broadest existing between our two countries. This is a good time to establish more clearly the challenges and priorities of our bilateral relationship. It is also a special opportunity to stress the progress and agreements of our complex bilateral links.
History is our best point of reference.
When the delegations of these Administrations met for the first time in 1995, they agreed to persevere in building relations guided by mutual confidence, mutual respect and intensive and permanent cooperation between both countries. On that occasion, the representatives of our governments appropriately conceived of an intelligent framework of understanding to deal with the sensitive subjects in our broad array of political, economic, social and cultural relations. Since then, our ties have undergone significant progress. We have also dealt with difficult crises at different times, which we have fortunately been able to overcome based on the clear political will of our executive branches. If there is no communication, cooperation, trust, respect and goodwill, our relationship runs the risk of taking the wrong course.