First Amendment:
Mexico (AFP) – The United States will form a special team to analyze the Mexican government’s questionable electrical reform, John Kerry, the US climate envoy, said Thursday, after meeting Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
“The issue of energy reform is on the table here in Mexico, and we and our ambassador (…) are providing ideas on how this reform can effectively reflect the possibilities for moving forward,” Kerry told reporters at the end of the day. His speech .. the third meeting with Lopez Obrador.
Leftist Lopez Obrador asserted that his reform respects what was agreed upon in the US T-MEC treaty and that he favors clean energy, in addition to combating “dirty work”, but also, in his administration, the way trade agreements are “changed”.
But in the United States and Canada, the domestic electricity sector initiative has caused concern because, they believe, it may affect investments from both countries, favoring the state’s Federal Electricity Corporation (CFE) and actually boosting dirty energy.
After Thursday’s meeting, the Mexican president described the 7-hour dialogue, which was attended by representatives of American companies, as “friendly.”
“I consider it a cordial, necessary and useful meeting,” the Mexican president wrote on Twitter, without providing further details.
In his morning conference this Thursday, López Obrador announced that he will reiterate at the meeting that his initiative holds at least 54% of electricity production for the CFE, compared to 38% currently.
Last week in a virtual meeting with United States Trade Representative (USTR), Catherine Tay, NGOs and representatives of US companies expressed their concerns about Mexico’s current energy policies.
In a statement, the US government said it had reported “chronic permit delays” in renewable energy, which “weaken investor confidence in Mexico to the detriment of the environment.”
© 2022 AFP
