President Obama embarked Thursday on a brief trip to Mexico where he will meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to discuss hot-button topics like economic growth, trade and security among other issues.

Obama is slated to arrive in Air Force One at the international Mexico City Airport today in the early afternoon. From there he will travel to the Reception Hall of the National Palace to be formally greeted by Nieto, after which Obama will hold a press conference with the national media. Later in the evening, Nieto will host a private dinner in Obama's honor.

On Friday Obama is scheduled to address a message to Mexican youth and conduct meetings with the country's top businesspeople before departing the country to continue on with a three-day tour to other Latin American countries including Costa Rica.

Obama and Nieto, who have agreed to put discussions regarding the ongoing drug war and security issues on the back burner, will focus on developing and streamlining economic ties between the United States and Mexico. Other topics up for discussion are trade and energy development in the Western hemisphere, according to reports.

"A lot of the focus is going to be on economics," Obama said during a news conference earlier in the week. "We've spent so much time on security issues between the United States and Mexico that sometimes I think we forget this is a massive trading partner responsible for huge amounts of commerce and huge numbers of jobs on both sides of the border. We want to see how we can deepen that, how we can improve that and maintain that economic dialogue over a long period of time."

According to reports by the media, it is believed that economic interests between the United States and Mexico will likely improve a great deal if a solid plan for strengthening the Mexican economy can be devised during today's and future meetings between both countries.

A stronger Mexican economy will undoubtedly impact positively much of the ongoing illegal immigration situation, as growing numbers of Mexicans continue to cross the border to find jobs. These individuals know that they will be able to better succeed in supporting themselves and their families by relocating to the neighboring United States where a more stable economy offers them ample opportunities for gainful employment.

The concept of partnering with Mexico to strengthen their economy in order to provide Mexican citizens with an increased number of jobs in their home country will likely be acknowledged and taken into serious consideration as Congressional leaders strive to overhaul American immigration policies.

"Mexico is an important partner in immigration reform given that we work with them every day to secure our border," Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor for strategic communications at the White House told the media on Wednesday. "Economic development in Mexico will also ultimately get at the root cause of illegal immigration to the United States, so that's another benefit of the economic growth underway in Mexico.