The Senate of the Republic unanimously approved this Tuesday the appointment of Alicia Barcena Ibarra as secretary of Foreign Relationsafter the diplomat arrived at this portfolio after the departure of Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón Last June.

After Ebrard’s departure in early June to pursue Morena’s candidacy in 2024, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador proposed the former Mexican ambassador to Chile, and although she assumed the function of SRE, it has not been ratified by the Senate until today.

With 98 votes in favor, the Upper House approved the continuity of the new chancellor, who assures that the biggest challenge of the last year of the six-year mandate is to consolidate North America as the most competitive region in the world.

Bárcena protested before the Senate plenary as lawmakers from all parties recognized his career and early advocacy of Mexican interests.

With the approval of the Upper House, she becomes the fourth woman to hold the post of chancellor in Mexico.

Bárcena led ECLAC from 2008 until March 2022, during which she established herself as the most influential secretary since the days of Raúl Prebisch, an Argentine who led the organization between 1950 and 1963.

In her new task, Alicia Bárcena will focus on Mexico’s relations with the United States and Canada.

“The North American reality transcends our borders and the relationship with the United States and Canada must be based on cooperation and mutual respect, addressing bilateral and trilateral issues,” he declared the day before during his appearance before Senate committees.

The president of the Foreign Relations Commission and member of the Morena judiciary, Héctor Vasconcelos, assured that she has the capacity to exercise this position in the best way, since she is one of the best diplomats that Mexico has never had.

Senator Beatriz Paredes, of the PRI, highlighted that the main challenge of the Secretariat will be the migratory phenomenon, which is why it has the indispensable task of implementing a policy that affects local, regional, national and international development, to reduce the negative impacts of human mobility and protecting the human rights of migrants.

The new Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs admitted that the relationship with the United States is “one of the most complex”, while emphasizing that it is currently going through “a good moment”, where Mexico has become its main business partner, with an average of $1.5 million per minute.

It is assumed that in the first half of the year the trade between countries increased to 400 thousand dollars and the foreign direct investment (IED) in the country increased to 12 thousand 500 million dollars, representing 43% of the total IED in Mexico.

He considered that Mexico and the United States “are constructive partners”, but clarified that voices have also been raised in situations that contravene the spirit of collaboration, such as the installation of buoys in the Rio Grande , “the demagogic and electoral use” of the immigration issue, or the consistent legal procedure against producers, manufacturers and arms stores.

The long career of Alicia Bárcenas

Alicia Bárcena graduated in Biology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He holds a master’s degree in ecology from UNAM and in public administration from Harvard, as well as honorary doctorates from the University of Oslo, the University of Havana and UNAM.

She served as executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and was later named Mexico’s ambassador to Chile, a position she most recently held. Additionally, he has held various positions within the United Nations system.