Cooperation with Oil Agreement / US Help / Call to Xi Jinping

Will cooperate with oil producing countries. After Mexico was the only country that rejected a global agreement to reduce oil production, President López Obrador said the country will join the effort to stabilize crude prices. He explained that the rejection was because a 23 percent reduction for Mexico was too much, compared to other countries. “It is not the same to produce 12 million barrels a day than 1,786,000. And also, we are coming out of a production crisis that lasted for 14 years. So, we couldn’t accept what was originally proposed, and we resisted,” he said.

US will help Mexico with oil reduction. President López Obrador announced that he agreed with US President Donald Trump that the US would supplement Mexico's contribution to OPEC to achieve the global crude reduction goal. He explained that the US would fulfill its own commitments to OPEC and reduce an additional 250,000 barrels per day to help Mexico. The president said that by doing this, Mexico will cut 100,000 daily barrels, which added to the US contribution will total 350,000 barrels less per day.

Asks for healthcare supplies. President López Obrador said he will hold a video call with China’s President Xi Jinping to thank him for the supplies that they are selling to Mexico for the COVID-19 pandemic. “I am going to thank him and also to address the possibility of acquiring more equipment,” he said. The president said that during yesterday´s conversation with US President Donald Trump to address the oil affair, he took advantage to ask his US counterpart “on behalf of the people of Mexico, to help us by selling us 10,000 ventilators and 10,000 monitors.”

ISSSTE rescue plan. A significant investment will be made to rescue ISSSTE, President López Obrador announced. “We are going to raise ISSSTE from ruin,” he said and highlighted that this effort will be independent from the COVID-19 contingency plan. “We will allocate more resources to improve the state of the clinics, to prevent drug shortages and to improve equipment. It is a commitment,” he said.

Alternative energy sought. President López Obrador said that although the policy of oil extraction and refining will continue during his administration, the generation of alternative energy would also be considered. “We are also looking for the generation of options with alternative energies, not betting everything on oil,” he said.

Highlights good week for the peso. President López Obrador said that despite some media outlets that are against his administration predicting the fall of the Mexican currency, this week was a good one because the peso recovered some lost ground in recent weeks against the US dollar. “The week is ending with a profit. Our currency strengthened,” he said.

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Click HERE for full transcript in Spanish.