Swiss discuss closer trade links with Mexico
The Swiss president, Joseph Deiss, on a trade visit to Mexico, has been discussing how to improve conditions for investors with his Mexican counterpart Vicente Fox.
Deiss said law enforcement, patent protection and corruption were key concerns of investors, while Fox said Mexico wanted to reduce its dependence on the United States.
The meeting took place on Thursday on the first full day of an official visit by Deiss, who is accompanying a major Swiss trade delegation. Deiss’ visit is the first by a Swiss president to Mexico.
Both men stressed that the two countries had good relations and said that economics – Mexico is Switzerland’s second largest trading partner in Latin America – had been a major topic during the talks.
Fox told swissinfo that Mexico’s strategy was to diversify both its economic and its political relations to avoid over-dependence on its major trading partner, the United States.
He said this was why Mexico had signed several free trade agreements in recent years with groups including the European Free Trade Association, of which Switzerland is a member.
Fox added that direct contacts were important at both economic and political levels, as they gave decision makers the information and personal contacts they needed to make informed choices.
The head of the Swiss delegation, Ueli Forster, president of Swiss business federation economiesuisse, agreed that contacts were important, particularly at the government level.
He said that this was something that was best done in the context of a mixed economic-political delegation.
Major opportunities
Forster added that Mexico offered major opportunities and framework conditions that were attractive compared to many other countries.
Deiss said private investors would always go to the countries that offered the most attractive overall conditions, and added that this judgement could change very quickly.
He said that, based on talks to date, Mexico needed to concentrate particularly on maintaining or improving framework conditions in three areas: law enforcement, patent protection and corruption.
On a political level, Deiss and Fox discussed areas including multilateral peace initiatives, particularly in the Middle East and moves to reform the United Nations, where they said they had common interests.
They also discussed the prospects for the next round of multilateral international trade talks, and said they had common interests despite belonging to different negotiation groups.
Deiss also asked Fox about the situation in the Mexican state of Chiapas, which saw a grass-roots rebellion in the 1990s.
Fox replied that the situation today was one of “total calm and peace”.
swissinfo, Chris Lewis in Mexico City
Mexico is the world’s tenth largest economy and Switzerland’s second-largest Latin American trade partner.
It is important to Switzerland both in its own right and as a key member of the NAFTA free trade association.
There are 350 companies active in Mexico with Swiss capital funding, primarily in services, manufacturing and trade.
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