(Council of State transcript / GI translation)
YOUR Excellency the President of the Republic of Cuba, Raúl Castro;
Highly distinguished members of the official delegation accompanying him;
Members of the official delegation of the government of Mexico;
Representatives of the media:
Firstly, I wish to express to His Excellency the President of the Republic of Cuba, that he should make himself at home; that Mexico welcomes you with open arms, this is a land that you carry, as you have expressed and demonstrated at different times, in your heart, and today Mexico again opens its heart to receive you in this land, in which we hope you feel at home.
It is within this framework that we have signed different agreements to expand, improve and strengthen bilateral relations between Cuba and Mexico.
I shared with the President just a moment ago, that if we consider the agreements that have historically been signed between Cuba and Mexico since 1928, we find that even before the start of this government, 15 legal instruments had been signed; and that given the relationship and the reencounter between the two governments, that of Cuba and Mexico, at the beginning of this administration, nine instruments were then signed to strengthen this relationship and we are signing five more today.
You [Raúl] told me: “We need one more to double the number that existed before 2012.” We are going to do that, Mr. President, beyond the signing, as you said in the meeting we held, through the work we are undertaking.
We have pledged the work of our officials, the government of Cuba and the government of Mexico, in order that the legal instruments which have been signed to strengthen the relationship in various fields, and to which I will briefly refer, do not remain mere good intentions and a desire agreed upon by the two governments, but actually materialize into concrete achievements that contribute to the welfare and development of our societies.
Mexico values and sees in Cuba a sister nation; Mexico is not separated, but rather united by the Caribbean Sea with Cuba; it is the country with which we have a geographical proximity, a historical brotherhood, and this government has proposed, from the beginning, to strengthen this relationship, make it much broader, to provide prosperity and development for our societies.
Your Excellency Mr. President, distinguished audience, I would like to briefly refer to the agreements which have been signed today, and the scope of this honorable visit by the President of the Republic of Cuba.
The first is to reestablish a political dialogue at the highest level.
Modernization and expansion of the bilateral legal framework through the five agreements which have been signed, to ensure legal, safe and orderly migration between the two countries, and thereby prevent and combat smuggling and trafficking in persons and other related crimes.
Second, to strengthen the training of our diplomats through academic exchanges.
Third, to expand cooperation in basic education, especially in literacy, reading promotion and sports, areas in which Cuba is an example to follow in all of Latin America.
Fourth, to exchange successful experiences in tourism, so that visitors arriving to Mexico also travel to Cuba and vice versa.
And fifth, to ensure best practice in the areas of commercial fishing and aquaculture.
And a third concrete result both governments have pledged: to continue creating conditions for more Mexican businesses and investors to invest in Cuba. This means investors from our country seeing in this updating of the Cuban economic model an opportunity to contribute to strengthening economic relations between the two countries by investing in Cuba and at the same time creating jobs in both nations.
In Mexico we value the new opportunities that are emerging in Cuba, and want to be an ally in this process of change and opening.
And the most important aspect of this relaunching of the bilateral relationship, of this reencounter between sister nations, is that we have endorsed the affection, respect and admiration that both peoples have historically afforded each other.
Your Excellency Mr. President, once again you are welcome to this, your home.
Thank you. (Applause)
