READOUT: Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, promotes NAFTA, climate action, clean growth, and ocean health, during her visit to Mexico City

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 22, 2018 /CNW/ - Minister McKenna had a successful visit to Mexico, where she promoted NAFTA, climate action, clean growth, ocean health, and coastal resilience.

Minister McKenna met with Mexico's Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, Rafael Pacchiano Alamán, to discuss negotiations of the NAFTA Environment Chapter, which is critical to protecting the environment while attracting investment to Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

Minister McKenna and Secretary Pacchiano Alamán also agreed to advance ongoing efforts to fight climate change through the implementation of the Paris Agreement, the Powering Past Coal Global Alliance, and the Paris Declaration on Carbon Pricing in the Americas. They also highlighted the opportunity to work together to protect the environment and create good jobs through investments in clean energy.

Canada and Mexico agreed on the urgent need to strengthen the resilience of coastal communities in the Caribbean region, in the face of increasing extreme weather events and rising sea levels driven by climate change. Minister McKenna and Secretary Pacchiano Alamán look forward to continuing the discussion on coastal communities and climate resilience in the Caribbean region, on the margins of the World Ocean Summit in Mexico, in early March 2018.

Minister McKenna hosted a round table with renewable-energy and clean-technology firms from Canada and Mexico, as well as with Mexican state-owned companies in the energy sector—Mexican Petroleums and the Federal Electricity Commission. The reforms in the Mexican energy sector have created opportunities for Canadian companies.

Minister McKenna also met with the renowned scientist and Nobel Prize winner, Mario Molina, whose research helped discover the hole in the ozone layer. They discussed the success of the Montreal Protocol—having celebrated its 30^th anniversary last fall—which has succeeded in halting the damage to the ozone layer, by targeting substances that warm the planet, and helped in the battle against climate change.

These meetings helped reinforce the strong ties between Canada and Mexico, on both the environment, and the economy and the opportunities to create good middle-class jobs.

Quotes

"Canada and Mexico are closely aligned when it comes to climate action and the environment. We agree that the environment and the economy go hand in hand. By working together to strengthen NAFTA, we can better protect our shared environment, advance climate action, and deploy clean solutions quickly across the region."
– Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change

Associated Links

• Coal phase-out: the Powering Past Coal Alliance
• Paris Declaration on Carbon Pricing in the Americas

SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada