Mexico to Japan: Participate in TPP talks
Japan Times | Friday, May 25, 2012
Mexico: Participate in TPP talks
Mexico would welcome Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks because it would help make the free-trade pact "a very important actor" in the international community, Mexican Ambassador to Japan Claude Heller said.
Mexico, along with Japan and Canada, expressed interest in joining the TPP talks last November.
Adding the three nations to the TPP’s current nine negotiating members, including the United States, would boost their overall output to 40 percent of world gross domestic product and greatly enhance imports and exports between them, Heller said in an interview Wednesday.
The ambassador also said that as Mexico next month will be the first Latin American nation to host a Group of 20 summit, it will play an "important and relevant role in helping all the processes that the G-20 has been engaged in."
Mexico will host the summit of the G-20 major advanced and developing countries in Los Cabos on June 18 to 19.
As the G-20 chair, Mexico will emphasize the issues of strengthening the financial system and fostering financial inclusion to promote economic growth, and improving the international financial architecture in an interconnected world.
Japan’s $60 billion pledge last month as part of coordinated efforts by members of the International Monetary Fund to boost its lending resources by more than $430 billion "has very well been received," Heller said.
Such coordinated efforts to help stabilize the global financial system will continue to be high on the agenda through the G-20 meetings, he said.
Meanwhile, Mexico has been an investment attraction for many domestic automakers and auto parts makers, including Mazda Motor Corp. , Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. , since the conclusion of an economic partnership agreement with Japan in 2004.
Mazda plans to invest $500 million to build a new production plant in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato.
Mexico is "grateful for the confidence Japanese companies have expressed" in the country, the ambassador said, citing the quality of the workforce, stability and its commitment to respecting agreements.
