Mexico's new leader signs pact on migrants

In one of his first acts in office, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has signed an agreement with his counterparts from three Central American countries to establish a development plan to stem the flow of migrants seeking asylum in the U.S.

Mexico's new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador greets the crowd at the end of his inaugural ceremony at the National Congress in Mexico City, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. [Photo: AP]

The Foreign Ministry said Saturday that the plan includes a fund to generate jobs in the region and aims to attack the structural causes of migration from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Thousands of migrants, mostly Hondurans, have joined caravans in recent weeks in an effort to speed through Mexico to request refuge at the U.S. border.

New Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador reached out to the U.S. and Canada in his inaugural speech to Congress.

The first foreign dignitaries he greeted from the podium Saturday were U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump.

He also said that since the day he was elected "I have received respectful treatment from President Donald Trump."

Lopez Obrador said he wants to reach an agreement with governments and companies in the U.S. and Canada for investment to develop Central America and southern Mexico, so people there won't have to emigrate.