Mexico and the EU has kicked off High-Level Dialogue on health to advance common health priorities.
Earlier this month, Mexico’s Secretary of Health, Dr David Kershenobich, and European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, Olivér Várhelyi, co-chaired the inaugural meeting on this matter. Better outcomes for patients, more innovative health systems and resilient supply chains are at the heart of the EU-Mexico High-Level Dialogue on Health.
NXTin.Health unpacks the current relationship status and explores what comes next.
Mexico and the EU have recognised their shared interest in critical medicines, as well as their respective efforts to diversify supply chains. They agreed to explore mutually beneficial initiatives to diversify supplies of critical medicines, active pharmaceutical ingredients and key inputs, strengthen security of supply and support pharmaceutical production capacity in both regions, building on the Plan México and the EU’s Global Gateway Investment Agenda. To this end, they also explored opportunities for cooperation and investment by the Mexican and EU industries, and a potential strategic partnership as envisaged under the upcoming EU’s Critical Medicines Act.
According to EC Official’s comment to NXTin.Health, a cornerstone of the EU assistance in the area of health is the EU4Health project (EUR 1.5 million), providing support to the National Health Regulatory Agency – COFEPRIS.
The EU’s engagement is complemented by the EU-Mexico Joint Fund, established in 2020 to support strategic research and policy cooperation.
The Fund has a total envelope of EUR 3.5 million (EUR 2.4 million in EU funding) with EUR 1.3 million dedicated to health and runs until December 2027. Six projects are being implemented, five of them directly or indirectly related to health, covering innovative biotherapeutics and vaccines, pharmaceutical-sector development, obesity and public policy, and pandemic supply-chain resilience.
A new EU-Mexico partnership project on health is also under formulation and may include support specific to pharma GGIA initiatives as well as public health measures to enhance health access, diabetes prevention and control and digital health/telemedicine.
The new package of assistance is foreseen for 2027.
Earlier policy steps
EU-Mexico relations have developed in a large number of policy areas, especially since the entry into force of the EU-Mexico Economic Partnership, Political Coordination and Cooperation Agreement (Global Agreement), which came into force in 2000. The Global Agreement established regular political dialogue between the European Union and Mexico.
The 2008 Strategic Association further strengthened bilateral relations. The Strategic Association comprises establishes 4 thematic areas: politics, security, the environment and socioeconomic matters.
The EU has had a Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement with Mexico since 2005. The implementation of the agreement is steered and monitored by the EC-Mexico Joint Science and Technology cooperation committee which provides a structure for dialogue on research policies and areas for potential cooperation.
In 2015 the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) signed an Implementing Arrangement with the European Commission to enable CONACYT Research Fellows and CONACYT Post-Doctoral Fellows to pursue research collaboration with research teams led by European Research Council (ERC) grant holders.
Source
EC Official https://health.ec.europa.eu/latest-updates/mexico-and-eu-kick-high-level-dialogue-health-advance-common-health-priorities-2026-10-14_en https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/strategy/strategy-research-and-innovation/europe-world/international-cooperation/bilateral-cooperation-science-and-technology-agreements-non-eu-countries/mexico_en Picture: Magnific
