They have been long-time friends and on Tuesday, Governor Doug Ducey and Sonora Governor Claudia Pavlovich capped their professional relationship by signing an agreement to secure the neighboring states’ water future and expand collaboration to monitor air quality.

The agreement signed by the Governors is the result of negotiations between representatives of Arizona and Sonora serving on the Arizona-Mexico Commission (AMC), a cross-border non-profit organization aimed at strengthening the relationship between the neighboring states. Known as a Memorandum of Understanding, the agreement includes studying opportunities for desalination, the process to remove salt and other minerals from water so it can be made drinkable.

The professional partnership forged between Governors Ducey and Pavlovich stretches back to their first meeting in July 2015, and has remained solid through multiple changes in leadership at the national level in both Washington and Mexico City.

During today’s meeting, the Governors also met with members of the AMC and its 16 binational committees to discuss innovative measures to tackle issues facing the region and upcoming projects.