The defense secretaries of Mexico, Canada and the United States released a joint statement on Thursday stating that the security threats facing the North American continent are increasingly more complicated and require a coordinated response from the region’s governments.

The joint statement by Mexican Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, U.S. Defense Secretary Charles Hagel and Canadian Minister of National Defense Robert Douglas Nicholson was made during the Second Trilateral Meeting of North American Defense Secretaries, which was held in Mexico City on Thursday.

The three defense secretaries agreed to develop mechanisms to increase collaboration between the security forces of their respective countries to provide relief during natural and man-made disasters, as well as to share information on cybernetic threats and to strengthen border security.

Hagel, on his first trip to Latin America since he took office in February 2013, said he sees a lot of room for improvement in how the U.S. interacts with the region.

“Over the years we’ve probably never done enough to reach out to our Latin American partners,” he said, in part due to an absence of crisis-driven urgency. “The places that get most of the attention around the world are the trouble spots.”

Hagel is only the third U.S. secretary of defense to visit Mexico.

As a sign of improving defense ties, U.S. officials point to Mexico’s interest in buying U.S. military hardware. Last week the administration notified Congress of a proposed $680 million sale to Mexico of 18 Black Hawk helicopters. Mexico previously had been buying Russian helicopters.