The Presidency of the Republic of Mexico informed that new cooperation agreements with Portugal and Spain had been reached after the official visit of the Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto, to these countries.
The agreements' goal is to deepen bilateral economic ties and promote trade between Mexico and its European partners.
The Mexican president visited Portugal first, where he participated in the Mexico/ Portugal Business Seminar and met with the Prime Minister of Portugal, Pedro Passos Coelho.
Peña Nieto stressed the enormous "potential for business development and partnerships" between nations before an audience of three hundred businessmen and senior officials of both countries.
In turn, the President of the Portuguese Republic, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, said the European country was qualified to be Mexico's business partner because of Portugal's presence in the global market.
The governments of Mexico and Portugal signed business cooperation instruments such as the agreement that avoids double taxation.
In addition, the Mexican presidency highlighted, among other bilateral agreements, the signing of a memorandum of understanding to strengthen the tourist flow and increase investment in the sector; the ratification of the contract between the Portuguese Energias Renovavies company and the Mexican Peñoles Company to build a wind power plant in the state of Coahuila, and the memorandum of understanding between Pemex and GALP Energy, to identify new opportunities for joint investments.
"Mexico and Portugal are countries in transition, given that the reforms undertaken in both nations seek to lay the foundations for a more competitive business environment for entrepreneurs," inferred Valentín Díez Morodo, president of the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology.
Trade between both countries grew by over 50% in the last decade, said Díez Morodo, from $313 million dollars to $500 million in 2013.
The Mexican official also said the companies had invested more than $10 million dollars in Portugal and that there were 116 Portuguese companies in Mexico.
According to Diéz Morodo, these figures show the possibilities that both countries have to enhance trade and investment. Currently, Mexico is Portugal's second biggest partner in Latin America, and Portugal is Mexico's eighteenth destination market.
Mexico, Spain's main trading partner in Latin America
The bilateral relationship between Mexico and Spain is characterized by a common history based on political and economic cooperation. The European country has strong ties with Mexico in the financial services, infrastructure, tourism, and investment development sectors.
Both countries have strengthened trades since they signed the Declaration on Deepening the Strategic Partnership in 2007, which led Mexico to become Spain's biggest partner in Latin America.
Meanwhile, Spain is ranked as Mexico's seventh largest trading partner in the world in 2013. Spain is also the second biggest investor in Mexico among the countries of the European Union and the third one globally, stressed the president of the Latin American country.
According to Peña Nieto, his visit to Spain allowed both countries to update and deepen their strategic partnership as well as to strengthen mutual economic presence and expand trade, investment and tourism.
In addition, the Mexican president explained that, "cooperation in strategic areas for development, such as energy, railways, ICT, industrial development, exports, social security, culture, academic exchanges and copyright, among others, will increase."
Source: marcotradenews.com