Mexico president promises to protect Mexicans and congratulates Donald Trump

The president said Thursday that he'll seek relations that will benefit Mexican citizens

President of Mexico Enrique Pena Nieto addresses the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters, September 20, 2016 in New York City. (Drew Angerer/Getty)

Mexico's president, Enrique Pena Nieto, congratulated Donald Trump on his inauguration Friday and promised Mexicans that he would protect them as he seeks a respectful dialogue with the Trump administration.

The president said on Twitter that he will seek relations that will be beneficial for Mexican citizens.

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While campaigning, Mr Trump angered Mexican citizens by characterizing them as rapists and murderers while promising to build a wall along the southern border of the United States. He also promised Americans that Mexico would pay for the structure, a claim that President Nieto has said would never happen.

"At the start of the conversation with Donald Trump, I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall," he tweeted back in November.

President Trump's top aides will meet with senior Mexican officials next week in Washington DC to discuss bilateral relations including security, trade, migration, according to a statement from the Mexican government.

President Nieto currently has an approval rating of 12 per cent, the lowest for any Mexican official in the modern polling era, according to the Mexico City-based newspaper Reforma. He was highly criticized for meeting with the Trump campaign last September and surging gasoline prices over the years