New tasks to replace ProMexico --- Dear Juan Carlos, thank you for asking. Since the beginning of his election campaign President Obrador's top priorities were focused on reducing public expenditure. Although ProMexico carried out outstanding work to attract investment, diversify exports, promote Mexico’s image abroad and capture business opportunities, the Mexican Foreign Service (SEM) was thought of, due to its experience, capabilities, and loyalty to fulfill this task. ProMexico’s staff earned as any career diplomat, abroad, something the President couldn’t stand. To fulfill ProMexico’s tasks, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, works hand in hand with the Ministry of Economy to train diplomats in Embassies and Consular offices. Locally, the Undersecretariat for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights (SSAMH) conducts economic diplomacy through the Directorate-General for Global Economic Impulse (DGIEG) which organizes frequent training sessions using digital platforms. In addition, the Directorate oversees several issues: infrastructure, manufacturing, exportable supply, internationalization of SMEs, with the support of the Ministry of Economy itself and the MFA’s Directorate-General for Cooperation and Bilateral Economic Relations (DGCREB) under DGIEG’s tutelage, working on issues concerning Dialogue Mechanisms, such as Binational Commissions, Intergovernmental Commissions, Strategic Association Councils, Mixed Commissions, Permanent Consultation Mechanisms, Joint Economic Commissions, and FTA’s. This does not mean, we don’t have specialists (non-career diplomats) working in our diplomatic network with a good expertise to handle economic diplomacy, highly recommended profiles working for at least 6 years in an Embassy or Consular office, but their number is much less now. Their work is very much appreciated and valued for diplomats for their experience and specialization. I believe the Mexican Foreign Service performance in these functions with training, specialized agents and LE’s staff assistance is being positive so far. However, we must wait at least a year to see if this executive order yields good results.

Source author: Cecilia Treemonisha Barros Ruiz cbarros@sre.gob.mx