Mexico and the US create a mechanism to monitor illicit investments and financing

The Governments of Mexico and USA agreed this Thursday on a joint scheme to monitor the security of investments made on both sides of the border, as well as pursue the money laundering and the corruption that allow financing illicit activities such as drug trafficking fentanyl.

“I am pleased to announce that the United States and Mexico today signed a memorandum of intent that reaffirms our joint commitment to countering the threat that certain foreign investments pose to our national security and establishes a bilateral working group to exchange technical knowledge and best practices.“said Janet Yellen, US Treasury Secretary in Mexico City.

In a joint conference with the Secretary of the Treasury of the Mexican Government, Rogelio Ramírez de la O, from the National Palace, Yellen also highlighted that the economic ties between the US and Mexico “They extend far beyond trade and encompass joint efforts to secure our supply chains and protect our national security.”

He said that this strategy also includes cross-border payments, including the possibility of more closely integrating the payment systems of both countries.

“I see real potential here and welcome further exploration of the possibility of interconnection and other ways to improve connectivity between the US and Mexican payment systems,” he commented.

In this sense, he stated that Mexico’s greater commitment will help maintain an open investment climate, while monitoring and addressing security risks, making both countries safer.

“Greater coordination of financial and regulatory policies can further increase trade and investment and the benefits they bring,” he detailed.

He recalled that this Wednesday he announced sanctions against 15 individuals and two companies, part of the Mexican Beltrán Leyva cartel, while ensuring that “most of the chemical precursors of fentanyl come from China and it is synthesized in Mexico.”

At the time, Ramírez de la O explained that ‘efforts to combat illegal trafficking of fentanyl and other drugs will focus on illicit cross-border exchange, while on the US side it will focus on pursuing distributors.

“What we see is that this level of cooperation at a financial level gives us the opportunity to introduce topics that are of high interest to Mexico, in particular digital payments, the reduction of costs for sending remittances, the exchange platform will also help us serve to regulate better and with lower costs and greater efficiency”he concluded.