WASHINGTON – The Border Trade Alliance today applauded the Senate confirmation of Roberta to be the next U.S. ambassador to Mexico, finally ending a months-long vacancy of the top diplomatic post with one of the U.S.’s largest trading partners.

“We are extremely pleased that Ms. Jacobson was confirmed by the Senate with bipartisan support to be our next ambassador to Mexico,” Border Trade Alliance Chairman Russ Jones said.  “The BTA has been making the case for several months that our relationship with Mexico is too important to go without an ambassador.  While this post was vacant for too long, we believe that Ms. Jacobson is uniquely qualified to represent the U.S. in Mexico and we believe she will do an outstanding job.”

Board members from the BTA last month in a series of meetings on Capitol Hill advocated for the Senate confirmation of Ms. Jacobson, currently the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs at the Department of State.  The BTA last fall also successfully urged the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to approve the Jacobson nomination.

“Our next ambassador to Mexico must have a deep understanding of our two nations’ economic and cultural ties.  Roberta Jacobson’s record of accomplishment in diplomacy makes her an excellent choice,” Jones said.

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake and Texas Sen. John Cornyn were central  to securing Ms. Jacobson’s nomination, both at the committee level and in the full Senate.  Both senators made a forceful case to Senate leadership that issues of critical concern for border states require the ambassador position to be filled.

“We’re hugely appreciative of the hard word of two border state senators, Sen. Jeff Flake and Sen. John Cornyn, for their commitment to ensuring that the Senate acted on this nomination,” Jones said.  “Both Sen. Flake and Sen. Cornyn deserve applause for setting politics aside in order to bring focus on critical issues like cross-border trade and security.”