Mexican foreign minister in San Ysidro

Mexico’s top diplomat was at the Tijuana-San Diego border on Friday, adding his voice to a growing chorus calling more efficient crossings.

“Our border should be an area that allows a safe, quick and organized flow of goods and people,” José Antonio Meade Kuribreña, Mexico’s foreign minister, said in a statement released by the ministry.

Meade is a 45-year-old Mexico City-born economist with a doctorate from Yale University. His border visit was intended to build on the momentum of California Gov. Jerry Brown’s trade mission to Mexico City this week, during which Brown called the two- and three-hour border waits to enter San Diego “unconscionable.”

On Friday morning, Meade met at the University Club with business leaders and representatives of government agencies, including the General Services Administration, the California Department of Transportation and the San Diego Association of Governments.

Accompanying him was Eduardo Medina Mora, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, as well as other high-ranking Mexican officials. Also present were members of the Smart Border Coalition, a binational group that advocates for more efficient border crossings between San Diego and Tijuana.

“It was good to have an immediate follow-up to the conversation in Mexico,” said Paola Avila, executive director of the Mexico Business Center at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. “It’s important to keep this dialogue going.”

Among the ideas discussed was the possibility of both countries sharing technology and information at the border, Avila said.

The San Ysidro Port of Entry is in the midst of a $741 million expansion; funding for the final $216 million phase was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives last month, but Senate approval is pending.