September 24, 2007
Mexican
President Speaks at Migration Exhibition
Presidency of the Republic
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
(Opening speech
by Felipe Calderón, President of Mexico)
Welcome to
Mexico and to Monterrey; welcome to this proudly multiethnic and multicultural nation.
During this
permanent transition, the American peoples have forged indestructible links of friendship and brotherhood.
Like all the
peoples of America, Mexicans are the children of migration and the fruitful contact between different ways of thinking and
seeing the world. We are heirs to European culture and the civilizations that flourished during the pre-Colombian era.
Mexico is
a nation of origin, transit and destination of migrations, which is why our vocation should be there. We are, of course, working
to create the conditions that will enable every Mexican to find opportunities for the decent, well-paid jobs he or she deserves
here, rather than across the border.
Migration,
particularly now, is a natural, social and economically inevitable phenomenon and one that I would say is actually economically
beneficial. There are no neighboring economies anywhere in the world that are as clearly complementary as the American and
Mexican ones.
The walls
and the round-ups carried out against our fellow countrymen hurt us, but also hurt the prosperity of the North American region
as a whole, which is becoming less competitive in relation to Asia and Europe.
With the certainty
that this event will help foster an attentive, inclusive and universal dialog between all countries I am very pleased today,
September 21, 2007 to formally inaugurate the America Migration Exhibition, at 11:30 am on September 21, 2001 within the framework
of the Universal Forum of Cultures Monterrey 2007.
——————————
(Press Release:
Presidency of the Republic, September 21, 2007, Mexico City)
Presidency
of the Republic translation
