MEXICO CITY, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday his government is collaborating with the United States to investigate convicted drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's fortune.

"We are already in talks. We have already contacted U.S. government authorities in that regard," Lopez Obrador said at his daily press conference.

"We are going to seek to recoup those assets, to have all of the assets confiscated and kept abroad returned to Mexico," he said.

The U.S. government has ordered more than 12.6 billion U.S. dollars in assets Guzman amassed through drug trafficking be impounded.

Guzman, the former head of the world's largest drug-trafficking organization Sinaloa Cartel, was sentenced to life in prison by a U.S. court in July after being convicted of drug trafficking, organized crime and conspiracy to murder.

He escaped from prison twice in Mexico before he was recaptured in 2016 and extradited to the United States in 2017.