AMEXCID AND THE INTERNATIONAL MAIZE AND WHEAT IMPROVEMENT CENTER SIGN A COOPERATION AGREEMENT

• The Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) committed to working together on international development cooperation.

• Both institutions are joining forces to help achieve food security and eradicate poverty worldwide.

The Foreign Ministry’s Executive Director of the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID), Rogelio Granguillhome Morfin, and the Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Thomas Lumpkin, signed a cooperation agreement yesterday that will enable the two agencies to work together on international development cooperation.

CIMMYT is an international organization founded in 1943 and headquartered in Mexico that engages in scientific research and trains national and international officials to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat systems. It has developed varieties of grains that have contributed to the eradication of hunger in many parts of the world.

The AMEXCID is a decentralized Foreign Ministry agency that was created on September 28, 2011 to guide, coordinate and implement Mexico’s policy of international development cooperation, according to the country’s major national and international priorities.

The agreement establishes and consolidates international development partnerships between various actors; promotes South-South, triangular and horizontal cooperation as ways to transfer knowledge and best practices; and encourages the participation of the private sector and academia to help meet the development challenges faced by other countries.

The agreement will encourage scientific and technological innovation in the biodiversity of maize and wheat to be shared with the international community as a universal public good. It will also help strengthen Mexico's potential as a partner committed to development, by creating synergies between institutions that contribute to social development and food security.