Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena calls on MIKTA countries to strengthen global governance and multilateralism

Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena calls on MIKTA countries to strengthen global governance and multilateralism

• At MIKTA's 4th Development Cooperation Network Meeting, members will explore ways to enhance cooperation, further the 2030 Agenda and share best practices in managing international cooperation management.

Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena Ibarra today inaugurated the 4th MIKTA Development Cooperation Network Meeting at the Foreign Ministry. The MIKTA group is comprised of Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Türkiye and Australia.

Over two days, MIKTA cooperation agency representatives will discuss the current challenges and opportunities for advancing greater cooperation on implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, while exchanging best practices for the management of each member country's international development cooperation to identify shared priorities.

At the inauguration, Secretary Bárcena noted that Mexico took over coordination of the group in February, and she shared three areas of focus: strengthening multilateralism; development and inclusion; and coordination among international cooperation agencies.

She said, "We are countries that are deeply committed to multilateralism and the peaceful resolution of problems and conflicts. This is very important for strengthening global governance and multilateralism, and achieving greater justice and less international asymmetry."

She also urged MIKTA to identify areas where cooperation can be strengthened, saying, "What we want from this meeting is to identify specific areas in which we can collaborate, communicate, share best practices and work on capacity development, and to consider which strategic partners we can potentially bring into the equation."

The Secretary mentioned upcoming MIKTA meetings to be held at the September Summit of the Future to "analyze the 2030 Agenda and its progress, improve the group's organization, and at the same time promote South-South and Triangular cooperation and promote global interregional leadership."

"We have problems in all our regions, such as climate change, inequality, migration [...] If we build a common vision while taking our differences and, above all, our priorities into account, we can work together towards shared results [...] making international cooperation a powerful tool for transformation and a guide for our development narratives. That is what brings us together today," she concluded.

Also participating in the event were: Indonesian Director General for Information and Public Diplomacy Siti Nugraha Mauludiah; Hong Seok-Hwa, Vice President for Regional Affairs of Africa, Eurasia, Middle East and Latin America at the Korean Cooperation Agency (KOICA); Uğur Tanyeli, Head of the Department of Foreign Relations and Partnerships at the Turkish Cooperation Agency (TIKA); and James Hall, Special Adviser for Development in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Also present were Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Teresa Mercado Pérez and the Executive Director of the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (Amexcid), Gloria Sandoval Salas.

On behalf of the Government of Mexico, the Foreign Ministry reaffirms its commitment to international development cooperation.