Mexico City, 21 May 2019 - The National Fund for Tourism Development (FONATUR) and UN-Habitat Mexico signed an agreement to collaborate on regional, territorial and urban development of the southeast region of Mexico, through the Maya Train.

The Integral Development of the Southeast Region of Mexico represents a long-term national strategy to improve the living conditions of the population. It also seeks to create shared prosperity in the region by preserving the environment, cultural heritage as well as the regions historical identity.

UN-Habitat studies show connectivity infrastructure in successful regional development projects is linked to shared prosperity.

Eduardo López Moreno, Interim Director of UN-Habitat Mexico, pointed out the importance of considering the Maya Train not as an object, but as a regional integral development project. He assured that the train "is not 1,525 km of tracks, but 1,525 km of opportunities that will improve the quality of life of all the residents from the Mexican southeast. "The Maya Train will carry rights and opportunities to this region that is one of the most lagging in the country. There is a historical debt with the southeast of Mexico".

For her part, the Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of Foreign Affairs, Martha Delgado, said that the signing of the collaboration agreement between Fonatur and UN-Habitat is another example of the Mexican Government working according to international standards on urban development and territorial ordering.

Rogelio Jiménez Pons, Director of FONATUR, noted how the large public investment is an opportunity to reorient the development model. “We are going to look for the best alternatives for development,” he said, “and they must have a scientific, real and objective basis. We have to get that the proposals and work to allow public investment to transcend into other areas and multiply.”