Mexican
economy minister seeks to build stronger Sino-Mexican
economic ties |
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Mexico and China should strengthen mutual understanding and
investment to bring their economic and trade relations to
a new stage, Mexican Economy Minister Bruno Ferrari said.
Ferrari told Xinhua in an interview that Asian countries,
especially China, were important to Mexico's economic development.
He said the Sino-Mexican economic and trade relationship
was still in its infancy, and more mutual understanding was
needed.
"We have studied the Chinese market and found the Mexican
share of the market is small. China is also not sure of its
opportunities in Mexico. We should know that, for the Chinese
goods, Mexico is not only the gate to the U.S. market, but
also the gate to enter the market of the whole of the Americas,"
Ferrari said.
Before becoming economy minister, Ferrari had been chairman
of ProMexico, an investment and export promoter in Mexico,
which ran Mexico's participation in the Shanghai World Expo
last year.
Ferrari said the World Expo was a good opportunity for Mexico
to understand China and ProMexico held a series of activities
to showcase Mexico's infrastructure and mining industry.
He also said Mexico should become a more important economic
ally of China, which was one of the most important economies
in the world.
"There is no excuse for the two countries not to develop
their trade relations. As a Latin American country located
in Central America, Mexico maintains a leading role among
Latin American countries. It is meaningful for China to own
such a market in the region," he said.
Ferrari also reviewed the current state of Mexico's economy.
He said the Mexican economy had remarkable achievements in
2010, including 5.2-percent growth, 800,000 new jobs and 35-percent
export growth.
As a member of the North American Free Trade Area, the Mexican
economy relies on the U.S. market excessively, so it took
a deep hit from the global financial crisis in 2009. The A/H1N1
outbreak added insult to injury and the Mexican economy plunged
6.5 percent in 2009.
Ferrari said diversification of trading parters was a good
way to decrease Mexico's excessive dependence on the U.S.
market. "We are getting rid of the restriction caused
by the single U.S. market gradually, as the economic and trade
activities between Mexico and European or Asian countries
have become more frequent."
Mexico's finance ministry and central bank have forecast economic
growth of 3.9 percent or 4 percent in 2011.
Ferrari said the actual growth rate could exceed expectations
as it did in 2010.
Source: Xinhua
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