Department of Defense Spokesman Lt. Col. David Herndon provided the following release:
Under Secretary for Policy Dr. Colin Kahl, hosted the 11th meeting of the United States – Mexico Defense Bilateral Working Group with Mexican co-chairs, Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff for Doctrine, Major General Edgar Salador Rodriguez Franco, and Secretariat of the Navy (SEMAR) Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Vice Admiral Carlos Eduardo L’Eglise Escamilla, Oct. 5-6 at the Pentagon.
The U.S.-Mexico Defense Bilateral Working Group (DBWG) is the defense component of the United States – Mexico national-level cooperation process. The bilateral defense partnership focuses on traditional defense activities and does not include internal security issues, which are deferred to the U.S.-Mexico High-Level Security Dialogue chaired by the State Department.
Working under the auspices of the Defense Bilateral Strategic Framework, the Defense Bilateral Working Group provides a process for bilateral cooperation and coordination between the United States and Mexico's defense institutions to build a common understanding of challenges and approaches to address these challenges and to identify and implement initiatives to promote bilateral defense cooperation.
During the 11th DBWG, the co-chairs recognized the successful institutionalization of the bilateral defense partnership. The co-chairs established joint objectives, lines of effort, and priorities to guide defense cooperation activities, more effectively address mutual challenges facing our region, and advance the security of our peoples and the Western Hemisphere. The co-chairs agreed to expand U.S. and Mexican defense cooperation; advance bilateral capability to address mutually identified regional defense challenges; expand bilateral support and cooperation for regional defense cooperation activities; and exchange lessons learned and best practices.
The co-chairs concluded the 11th DBWG by recognizing that as a community, North America has regional responsibilities and faces complex challenges that are best addressed by collaborative and cooperative responses.