MEXICO CITY — The United States is committing $5.8 billion USD toward development in Central America, as part of a plan to strengthen economic growth in the region and curb illegal immigration, the U.S. and Mexican governments said on Tuesday, according to Reuters news agency.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has vowed to work with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump to reduce migration from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, as well as Mexico’s poorer south, by spurring economic development.
In Mexico City, Mexican foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard said the United States was also committed to increasing public and private investment in Mexico by $4.8 billion via the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), $2 billion of which would go to the south.
Speaking as the U.S. State Department issued a statement setting out the commitments, Ebrard told a news conference that the Mexican government had pledged to find $25 billion to develop the south of the country during the next five years.
“The agreements established here mean more than doubling the foreign investment in the south of Mexico from 2019,” he said.
It was not immediately clear how much of the investment announced represented new funding. A spokesman for Ebrard told Reuters he understood that $2.5 billion of the pledges to develop Central America were fresh commitments.
Source: Reuters news agency