The Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands and the Woodrow Wilson Center will hold a breakfast discussion on the Future of U.S.-Mexico Relations at the Republican National Convention. The event, cohosted by the chairman of JPMorgan Chase Foundation and former U.S. Senator Mel Martinez and U.S. House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, will take place on August 28, 2012, from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. at the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation,124 South Franklin Street, in downtown Tampa, near the convention center.

Seizing the opportunity presented by this year’s simultaneous Presidential elections in Mexico and the United States, the Wilson Center and The Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands convened in March a bipartisan and binational group of experts who spent three days crafting a new agenda for the bilateral relationship. They met at Sunnylands and developed a fresh set of ideas to take the bilateral partnership to a new level. Those ideas are set forth in the report, A Stronger Future: Policy Recommendations for U.S.-Mexico Relations, and in a video that punctuates the report’s findings.

The report includes ideas to enhance regional competitiveness; reform the U.S. immigration system; more effectively fight organized crime and strengthen public security; further educational exchanges; increase energy cooperation; and develop ports of entry that strengthen trade and border security.

The cohosts will be joined on the panel by the Ambassador of Mexico to the United States Arturo Sarukhan and Senior Counselor to the Speaker of the House Barry Jackson, both of whom attended the Sunnylands retreat. Andrew Selee, vice president for programs and director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center will moderate. Geoffrey Cowan, president of The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands (2010-2016) will offer a welcome.

A similar event will be held on September 4, 2012 during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Charlotte, NC. Cohosts in that city will be Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, chairman of the DNC, and former Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson, both of whom attended the Sunnylands retreat.