Q COSTA RICA – The commitment to integration and the Mesoamerica Project were strengthened by the 16th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Tuxtla Mechanism for Dialogue and Coordination, which concluded yesterday in Costa Rica.
The Political Declaration of San José, agreed by the presidents of the 10 member countries of the Mechanism, highlights the commitment to integration and its conviction of unity for the development and prosperity of the region.
It emphasizes the political importance of the bloc as a privileged space for dialogue and Mesoamerican consensus, which promotes integration through a solid agenda and concrete actions.
It acknowledges that regional integration contributes to addressing the challenges associated with globalization, and that efforts to consolidate the Tuxtla Mechanism should be deepened in a way that substantially advances towards the attainment of its founding objectives.
These include high-level political dialogue, respect for plurality, strengthening of democratic processes, cooperation for institutional strengthening and the articulation of regional consensus and strategies on issues of common interest.
The Political Declaration highlights the progress of the process of reflection and strategic vision that is carried out within the framework of the Mesoamerica Project, in order to review its institutionalization and integral functioning, as well as the prospective exercise that seeks to identify and prioritize strategic actions at medium and long term.
It urges us to work together on the renewal of Mexico’s cooperation portfolio with the countries of the region, based on the Mesoamerican Cooperation Program.
It also recognizes Colombia’s decision to align the regional technical cooperation granted by the Presidential Agency for International Cooperation (APC Colombia) with the Mesoamerica Project agenda since 2016.
With this, it points out, it seeks to share good practices in public policies related to the thematic axes of the Project, as well as to provide scenarios to furthering the fulfillment of the mandates emanating from Tuxtla Summits.
It also reaffirms its commitment to the Mesoamerican Agenda for Cooperation as the regional instrument that favors the articulation and complementarity of actions within the framework of the Tuxtla Mechanism for Dialogue and Coordination.
In that sense, it calls for the promotion of inter-sectoral initiatives to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals contained in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Tuxtla Mechanism for Dialogue and Cooperation was created in 1991 in the Mexican city that gives it its name and it is formed by Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
