Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto provides his first "state of the union address"

He highlights the achievements made during his 9 months in office

By Brenda Colón Navar2013-09-02T20:38:20+00:00

Enrique Peña Nieto presented his first presidential report (the state of the union address) before governors from the different states in the Mexican Republic, athletes, religious leaders, entrepreneurs and media.

9 months into his term as president, Peña Nieto started his speech celebrating the approval of the Professional Educational Staff Service Law, which was approved by congress, stating that his office plans on not just administrating Mexico but transforming it.

Peña Nieto continued with a diagnosis of the state of Mexico when he entered office, the needs the country had in regards to education, public safety, social development, economy, as well as other areas.

"This governments agenda is none other than looking out for the well being of all Mexicans", the President highlighted when referring to the "Pact for Mexico", a 55 point arrangement made with the strongest political forces in the country to achieve progress on the issues that are most necessary.

Later on, the President of Mexico spoke of the actions his government is taking to address the issues that affect the country, such as social programs focused on reducing crime rates, the arrest of over 65 subjects that were on the "country's most wanted" list. He also informed about the creation of a new specialized task force focused on finding missing people, a new law for protecting victims, as well as other new legislations.

Peña Nieto highlighted the reduction in homicides in the country by 13%, as well as mentioning some states like Nuevo Leon where the rate dropped 46%.

After congratulating the different law enforcement agencies around the country, the President spoke about the importance of the "National Crusade against Hunger" where he noted that over 256 thousand families have been benefited by this initiative. 4.6 million senior citizens have received the benefits of a new social program which provides them with a monthly support. He also spoke about the insurance and other programs available for single mothers. These points highlighted the achievements in the area of social development.

When speaking about education, he noted the importance of the educational reform and a special support for education in states with a high poverty rate, as well as the intent to improve the quality of education with this reform, to improve conditions for teachers as well as students. He added that they will double the amount of full time schools, which should benefit over 2 million students.

Enrique Peña Nieto then boarded the subject of economy. Besides promoting the several different reforms, he noted the cooperative effort being done with the state governments to provide better conditions for workers. He noted that access to communications technologies and the approval of the economic competition reform as well as the telecommunications reform, will be fundamental to increasing the economic offer as well as making economic conditions more favorable.

There has also been the creation of new benefits, loans and specialized instances for small businesses, given that they generate 3 out of 4 jobs in the country and the government wants to promote their growth.

Enrique Peña Nieto also spoke about the preservation of natural resources as well as the country's forests, linking them to the subject of the upturn the country has been experiencing when it comes to tourism.

"Only Mexicans may remove the obstacles that are preventing Mexico's economic growth" Peña Nieto declared.

The subject of the energy reform could not be left out of his speech, in relation to this, the President noted that Mexico would have enough energy to attract foreign investment, Mexico would be a strong power when it comes to energy at an international level. With the changes proposed, a decrease would be observed in what each family invests in energy.

Later on, Enrique Peña Nieto spoke about his policy in regards to foreign relations, informing about the several dialogs being held with world leaders. The President highlighted the commerce being done with other countries from Latin America, the preparation of new treaties for free commerce, and also noted the relations being done with Asian countries.

"This is the moment to transform Mexico, we have everything we need to be a nation that prospers", the President said in his finishing statement, exalting the importance of each and every Mexican to contribute to the nations development, "I trust in our potential, we are the ones that have to get to the top".