Mexico City – On September 20, 2011, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Anthony Wayne met with Mexican Secretary of Communications and Transportation Dionisio Perez-Jacome to discuss areas of common interest for the United States and Mexico, such as the Long-Haul, Cross-Border Trucking program, the creation of a 21st Century shared border, and the installation of law enforcement communication equipment, among other issues.

Following the meeting with Perez-Jacome, Ambassador Wayne noted the benefits that the Long-Haul, Cross-Border Trucking program, which expects to allow the first Mexican trucks to cross the border by early October, would have for both countries.

"The U.S. Department of Transportation has already received a number of applications from Mexican trucking firms interested in participating in the program, which will significantly facilitate the more than $1 billion in trade that crosses our shared border every day. As I said last week during my initial calls on President Calderon and Secretary Espinosa, the bilateral relationship is about so much more than shared security. It is also about shared prosperity."

Ambassador Wayne and Secretary Perez-Jacome also discussed the two nations’ commitment to building a 21st Century border, including progress on the first new cross-border rail bridge to be built in 100 years, the Brownsville-Matamoros West Rail Bypass, and massive renovation projects like the one at Nogales, which is the crossing point for most of the vegetables exported from Mexico to the United States.

They also discussed the High Level Consultative Commission and the Cross Border Secure Communications Network, which is key to facilitating communications between Mexico’s Secretariat of Public Security (SSP), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and other law enforcement entities.