ASEAN countries boost trade ties with western Mexican state

A business cooperation forum was held in the western state of Jalisco, the second biggest economic centre of Mexico, on April 11 and 12 to foster its multifaceted relations with ASEAN countries, particularly in trade, investment, education and tourism.

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The event was co-organised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Committee in Mexico (ACMC) and the Western Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade (COMCE Occidente) with the participation of nearly 300 officials and businesspeople in Jalisco.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Mexico Nguyen Hoai Duong, who is also rotating Chairman of the ACMC, highlighted the cooperation potential between ASEAN countries and Jalisco in particular and Mexico in general in the fields of agriculture, manufacturing industry, information technology, investment, education and tourism.

He said Mexico is a key market of the ASEAN in the Latin American region and a gateway to boost cooperative ties with the Pacific Alliance (including Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru).

Vietnamese Ambassador to Mexico Nguyen Hoai Duong (C) speaks at the forum

With the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) of which Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Mexico are members, trade exchanges between Mexico and ASEAN are forecast to further increase, he added.

Mexico is now the third biggest trade partner of Vietnam in Latin America while Vietnam is the eighth most important import-export market of Mexico in Asia, Duong said, noting that two-way trade reached nearly 5 billion USD in 2018, up 6.5 times against 2009.

At the forum, Jalisco officials and businesspeople discussed cooperation opportunities between the ASEAN and Mexico and its localities.

They highlighted Mexican products which have huge opportunities for export to the ASEAN such as automobiles and spare parts, equipment and machinery, leather products, beef, processed food, fruits and vegetables.

At the business-to-business (B2B) networking forum, dozens of Mexican enterprises met with trade representatives from the embassies of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to study information in the fields of their interests.

According to Mexico’s statistics, trade between Mexico and the aforesaid ASEAN countries enjoyed an average annual growth of 10 percent to hit 25.51 billion USD in the first 11 months of 2018.

Source: VNA