Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena concludes visit to New York, calls on international community to create national care systems

Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena concludes visit to New York, calls on international community to create national care systems

• Secretary Bárcena participated in the ministerial segment of the Ecosoc High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and the dialogue on Care and Support Systems. She announced that Mexico would organize the 2025 Regional Conference on Women and Development.
• The Secretary met with senior UN officials to discuss the upcoming Summit of the Future.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alicia Bárcena concluded her visit to New York City today. She participated in the ministerial segment and dialogue on Care and Support Systems of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc) High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. She also met with senior Ecosoc officials to discuss strategies for the Summit of the Future scheduled for September.

During the discussion on care and support systems, Secretary Bárcena emphasized "the urgent need to create comprehensive national care systems involving all of society. These systems will contribute to the economy by freeing up women's time, which in turn will create enormous opportunities in new sectors."

"We want to create comprehensive care systems because we need to transition to a care society. We are not just talking about a care economy. Society as a whole must become a care society, so that caregiving responsibilities don't fall solely on women, but are shared by everyone," she said.

Secretary Bárcena announced that Mexico would host the Regional Conference on Women and Development next year, with the aim of moving towards a care society. The conference will address issues such as the rights and vision of indigenous and Afro-descendant women, the concept of care as a public good, breaking the statistical silence by improving data collection on women's issues, and women's access to economic opportunities and resources. It will also facilitate the exchange of best practices among countries.

"It is very important that our societies become care societies to secure the future of coming generations," the Secretary stressed.

Secretary Bárcena met with UN Under-Secretary-General for Policy Guy Ryder to discuss presenting the conclusions of the third Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy at the General Assembly.

She also met with UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua to discuss the 2025 Preparatory Conference on Financing for Development, which Mexico will organize.

Secretary Bárcena concluded her visit to New York by meeting with Antje Leendertse, Germany's Permanent Representative to the UN, and the Permanent Representative of Namibia, co-facilitators of the Pact for the Future. They analyzed international cooperation strategies to address current challenges such as climate change and pandemics ahead of the Summit of the Future.

The delegation accompanying Secretary Bárcena included Mexico's Permanent Representative to the UN, Héctor Vasconcelos y Cruz; Deputy Permanent Representative Alicia Buenrostro Massieu; and Director General for Global Issues Camila Zepeda Lizama.