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Mexico eager for Chinese investment

By Xie Jingwei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-06-05 14:28

Mexico is aggressively calling on Chinese companies for investment, said Jorge Guajardo, Mexican ambassador to China, in Beijing Tuesday.

The ambassador said attracting Chinese investment is something “we are working on constantly” and listed two major advantages for Chinese companies to invest in Mexico.

One is logistics. Manufacturing in Mexico can save Chinese companies a lot in logistics costs, said Guajardo. “Especially in boom times when China exports a lot and the United States buys a lot, sending products from China to the US market can take quite a long time. The only port of entry into the US market is Long Beach, California. Sometimes it can takes up to three or four weeks for a ship to be unloaded in Long Beach.”

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Companies manufacturing in Mexico can bypass Long Beach and immediately bring their products into the US via land, said Guajardo.

The other is tariffs. Chinese companies manufacturing in Mexico can have access to many countries’ markets without any tariffs since Mexico has a free trade agreement with up to 44 countries, he pointed out.

There are many sectors Chinese investors could be interested in, especially the automobile industry, renewable energies, technology, food, electrical supplies, financial services and tourism, according to Juan Carlos Cante Reyes, Asia director of Pro Mexico, a state-owned organization in charge of promoting trade and investment.

An agreement between Mexico and China on boosting investment was approved this March by the Mexican Senate. The agreement will take effect June 6, 2009.

Mexico is one of the major destinations for Chinese investment in Latin America. By September 2008, Chinese investment in Mexico totaled US$400 million, according to data from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.