COMING EVENTS & ACTIVITIES Office of Mexico – Japan Economic Partnership Agreement

Mr. Gerardo Ruiz Mateos, Mexico's Minister of Economy, visited Tokyo on June 4, 2010, to attend as the main speaker at a seminar on the automotive sector in Mexico and have meetings with the Japanese private sector including the executive members of the Keidanren and its Japan-Mexico Business Committee. [To read more]

President Calderon's lecture "Preserving Our Common Heritage: Promoting a Fair Agreement on Climate Change" delivered at the United Nations University in Tokyo on February 2, 2010 [Full Text, Spanish]

Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama held a joint press conference in Tokyo on February 1, where both leaders stressed the importance of developing the Strategic Global Partnership between Mexico and Japan.
[Joint Press Relase in Spanish / Japanese]

Seminar: “Business Opportunities in Mexico’s Aerospace Sector" held on September 28 in Tokyo and September 29 in Nagoya

An aerospace mission composed of 14 representatives of the Mexican Federation of the Aerospace Industry (FEMIA) and eleven Mexican aerospace companies visited Japan from September 28th to October 1st to explore business and investment complementarities with Japanese companies in the sector. The mission visited Tokyo and Nagoya, had tours in three manufacturing plants, had five scheduled meetings with companies and the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies (SJAC), engaged in business matching sessions with 31 Japanese manufacturers, and participated in two seminars and one working lunch with a total audience of 261 participants. <Read More>

Seminar: “Business Opportunities in Mexico’s Energy Sector” held on Thursday, September 10, 2009

More than a hundred and sixty participants attended a seminar on Mexico’s Business Opportunities in the Energy Sector organized in Tokyo by the Embassy of Mexico in Japan and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation on September 10, 2009. The participants representing Japanese companies and institutions listened to presentations and interacted with officials from Mexico’s Ministry of Energy and from PEMEX (the national oil company). <Read more>

Seminar: “Business Opportunities on Infrastructure Projects in Mexico”
Mexico: a cost effective Transportation Logistics Hub across the Pacific
September 11th, 2008

The Embassy of Mexico in collaboration with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) organized a seminar titled “Business Opportunities on Infrastructure Projects in Mexico” on September 11 at JBIC´s ninth-floor auditorium.

It attracted more than 160 participants mostly from the trade, financial, transportation and construction industries, and Japanese government officials. Presentations were made by Mexican officials, including Manuel Rodriguez, Vice Minister, National Infrastructure Program, Ministry of Communications and Transportation, Ambassador of Mexico to Japan, Miguel Ruiz Cabañas, Minister Raul Urteaga from the office of representation of Mexico’s Secretary of Economy, and an official of Mitsubishi Corp., who shared his firm’s experiences in Mexico’s infrastructure projects.

The seminar highlighted investment opportunities of Mexico’s Infrastructure Program (NIP). Mexico is steeping up investments in infrastructure from three to eight percent of the country’s gross domestic product by 2012. To guide this effort, Mexico launched its National Infrastructure Program (NIP) with investments surpassing US$ 330 billion over the next decade. Mexico’s infrastructure investments include transportation, energy, telecommunications, water, and environmental infrastructure. The implementation of the NIP presents an important opportunity to Japanese infrastructure companies and finance institutions. Mexico is becoming an important transpacific hub for trade and transportation logistics. Moreover, the implementation in 2005 of the Japan-Mexico Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) provides additional incentives to Japanese companies participating on project tenders and bidding processes.

Mission to Mexico of Japanese Automobile and Auto parts Affiliates Companies with Operations in the United States organized by JETRO, April 2008

A mission comprised of eighty Japanese automobile and auto parts company representatives and JETRO officials visited Mexico in April. The mission consisted mainly of Japanese affiliates operating in the United States, which evaluated Mexico´s highly competitive manufacturing capacity in auto parts production with the aim of investing in the country in strategic projects. Mission participants attended presentations by the federal government, as well as by business representatives and local officials from the four cities visited by the mission, Mexico City, Queretaro, Toluca and Monterrey.

The mission’s large number of participants underscores the importance Japanese firms give to Mexico as an automobile manufacturing site. Since the early part of this decade, Mexico has been the main supplier of auto parts to the United States, and a leading exporter of vehicles to North America and other parts of the world. In 2007, Mexico produced over two million cars and light trucks. Over one-fourth of that production corresponded to Japanese automobile firms manufacturing in Mexico

One of the Japanese automobile firms operating in the country is Honda de Mexico, which first started motorcycle production in 1988, and later produced the Accord model. Honda has also developed a growing auto parts production in Mexico, particularly of molded plastic parts and steel parts, which supplies Honda’s automobile plants in Mexico and the United States. In 2007, Honda started production of the CR-V model at its plant in the western state of Jalisco. Mexico’s production of the popular CR-V vehicle accounts to fifty thousand units annually, and it is destined to the domestic market, the United States and South America. The total additional investment Honda is undertaking in Mexico from 2006 to 2008 is US$ 140 million, expanding its employment to 2,100 workers. Honda’s domestic sales network account for more than one hundred dealers. In 2007, sales of Honda vehicles in Mexico were 54,802 vehicles, a 12% increase from the previous year.

Last February, twenty eight Japanese executives representing 19 aerospace companies traveled to Mexico to learn about Mexican capabilities in aerospace manufacturing. This mission, the first ever by Japanese company representatives in the aerospace sector to visit Mexico, corroborated the importance played by Mexico in parts supply, system engineering, and design to the global aerospace industry. The trip also helped the Japanese companies to understand the production and logistic advantages Mexico presents as an export platform to the United States and Canada. Mexican exports of aerospace components enjoy duty free access to the United States and Canada, thanks to Mexico’s membership to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The mission was organized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (METI), the Japanese Society for Aerospace Companies (SJAC) and the Embassy of Mexico in Tokyo, Japan. It traveled to the cities of Queretaro, Chihuahua, and Monterrey, visiting manufacturing plants; maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities; and engineering and design centers including Bombardier-Mexico, Honeywell, Cessna/Textron, Lavinal/Safran, Frisa, and ITR/Snecma. Aerospace products manufactured in these plants include turbine parts, fuselages and landing gear components, harnesses and cables, video systems, heat exchangers, and insulation and interior panels.

Mexico has rapidly developed its capacity for aerospace manufacturing, including the development of engineering and design capabilities for military and civil applications. In addition, in 2007, Mexico and the United States signed a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) which fully certifies Mexican parts production, components of aeronautical systems, and even assembly of complete aircraft. As a result of the BASA, Mexico is attracting the interest of foreign aerospace companies including Japanese firms, which are expected to vigorously invest in the country to establish their production bases to provide for the North American and European markets. In addition to the fact that labor costs in Mexico are lower than in the United States and Canada, benefits in the procurement of parts and components and the export of finished products given by the NAFTA and the Mexico-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) are also drivers for Japanese interest in investing in Mexico.

PAST EVENTS & ACTIVITIES:

Seminar: “Business Opportunities on Infrastructure Projects in Mexico”
Mexico: a cost effective Transportation Logistics Hub across the Pacific
September 11th, 2008

PAST EVENTS & ACTIVITIES:

Seminar: “Business Opportunities on Infrastructure Projects in Mexico” Mexico: a cost effective Transportation Logistics Hub across the Pacific September 11th, 2008

Seminar: “Business Opportunities on Infrastructure Projects in Mexico”
Mexico: a cost effective Transportation Logistics Hub across the Pacific
September 11th, 2008