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ProMexico’s Alejandra Sanchez Apodaca dipped into a grab bag of compelling statistics to spell out to the traveling NZ delegation why ‘Mexico means opportunity.’
It’s the world’s 11th largest economy
– shooting to be in the top ten by 2o15. It’s had a stable investment grade for a decade, sports record foreign reserves which are twice public debt levels; it’s young and talented and has a string of FTAs which give it preferential access to two-thirds of global GDP.
The competitive indicators are attractive – “Mexico is in the right place at the right time” , says Sanchez. “Mexico has worked hard over the last 20 years to become a very strong economy and will keep working.”
During her presentation at a ‘Doing Business in Mexico’ session in Mexico City this morning, Sanchez spelt out the ProMexico has a three-point focus: It seeks out FDI for Mexico, boosts exports of Mexican products and services around the world and supports
the internationalization of Mexican companies abroad.
ProMexico has 29 offices throughout Mexico and 35 offices in 20 countries to support a global network of business. Australia and New Zealand are however serviced through its Singapore office.
Mexico’s transition was hard won.
Two decades ago it was subject to roiling currency crises.
It joined the Gatt in 1986 and is now a proponent of free trade, making Mexico one of the most open economies in world today. An emerging markets index published by The Economist ranks the country as “extremely competitive on a global scale” – it also low risk compared to other countries which are subject to over-heating. It is also advancing on other competitive indices.
It has privileged access to 44 countries under 12 FTAs and 2/3 of global GDP. It’s platform reaches well beyond North America: 1.2 billion consumers are now in its net,
Says Sanchez “Demographics are on
our side. Mexico is a very young country with average 26 years and rapidly growing labour force.
She says 115,000 engineers graduate each year. There is every high complexity with 80 per cent of exports manufactured goods. Much of this is “very sophisticated: – coming from the aerospace, medical devices, electronics and automotive industries.