PRESIDENT Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has disclosed that he had spoken by telephone with Donald Trump on Wednesday about migration and job creation.

“In respectful and friendly terms, we spoke about the migration issue and the possibility of implementing a joint programme of development and job creation in Central America and our country,” Mr Lopez Obrador wrote in his Twitter account.

The Mexican president, known as Amlo, urged Washington to join in a “Marshall Plan” effort to commit about $20 billion (£16bn) in public and private investment in Central America to create jobs so people there won’t have to emigrate.

Despite their differences in background and policy, the relationship between the two leaders has been quite cordial.

Mr Lopez Obrador, who took office on December 1, has expressed his hope to make migration a choice rather than a necessity for poor people of the region.

His top security official, Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero, said earlier that the Amlo government would close off illegal entries at its southern border with Guatemala, but gave no details about plans to accomplish that daunting task.

Ms Sanchez Cordero said the new administration would end the practice of undocumented or illegal crossings over the Suchiate River, which marks much of the border between Mexico and Guatemala.

“In the south there will be only one entry, on the bridge. Anyone who wants to enter illegally, we are going to say: ‘Get in line and you can enter our country’,” she said.