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November-december 2003 PRESIDENT
VICENTE FOX Mexico
As a Bridge to the Americas For Asia At
the Presidential Breakfast, keynote speaker President Vicente
Fox of Mexico explained how Mexico can help to build trade
between the two Pacific Rims. With Mexico's positioning,
President Fox said his country offers consolidated access to the
American markets both north and south of his country's borders.
He
explained free trade agreements should be developed in three
arenas, bilateral, regional and multinational, the latter
represented by the World Trade Organization. Mexico
itself has already signed 11 Free Trade Agreements with a total
of 32 economies around the globe including the US and European
Union. As host of the WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mr. Fox
was very disappointed with the impasse and said that political
will and generosity were necessary from all parties. He is
hoping that a strong statement of commitment to resolve
differences can come out from this APEC summit so the Doha
deadline of 2005 can be achieved.
President Fox said that Mexico has been building a very
attractive environment for foreign investment. Strong political
and fiscal stability along with incentives has increased foreign
investment in the country, now placing it fourth among emerging
economies. In 2002, Mexico had attracted as much as US$ 14
billion in direct foreign investment. At the same time, it has
been ranked with its lowest country risk in its history. To
expand trade now, President
Fox said all countries must work to remove trade barriers and
duties and create a fair and even playing field for all. The
biggest obstacle to accomplishing this, Mr. Fox says remains the
agriculture and food sectors. It was these than caused the
breakdown in Cancun and is halting the progress in Mexico's
negotiations with Japan over a free trade agreement. He wants on
to say that the FTA between Mexico and the EU had to leave these
sectors out of their agreement. When questioned during the
Q&A session that followed his speech about NAFTA and its
affect on Mexico's agriculture and foodstuff industries,
President Fox told how the agreement set different timetables
for the various sectors with the agriculture and foodstuff
barriers not being lifted till 10 years after other industries. During
this interim period, Mexico could develop the sectors and
prepare them to compete with the US and Canada. Mr. Fox was also
asked how he viewed China's emergence as an economic power. He
answered by saying while that country's products had taken
import shares away from Mexico in the US and Canada, he still
felt it was good for business. The challenge is to remain
competitive. Ultimately, he says, companies, countries and,
especially, consumers can benefit from a wider selection of
higher quality products and services at more affordable prices.
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