Gov. Jerry Brown, center, speaks with Mexico Secretary of Foreign Affairs José Antonio Meade Kuribreña, right, as first lady Anne Gust Brown, left, listens Wednesday during a luncheon at the California Chamber of Commerce.

Kuribreña’s visit comes ahead of Brown’s four-day trade mission to the neighboring country next week.

Brown called the arrival of unaccompanied young migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border “a humanitarian question” rather than a political one.

He said long-term solutions such as trade and cultural exchanges are needed in order to improve the safety and economic well-being of Central American countries.