September 17, 2007

Mexican President Speaks to Media in India

Presidency of the Republic

·         Mexican President Felipe Calderón, in a statement to the media, outlined his India related goals and objectives during a state visit

President Calderón:

Good afternoon.

 

I am going to take stock of this two day trip to India very briefly. 

 

First of all, I would like to remind you that India is a leading player on the world stage, the most densely populated democracy in the world and the second fastest growing economy after China.

 

In 2006, it experienced a growth rate of over 9%, by 2040 it will be the world's third largest economy and by the same estimate, Mexico will be the world’s fifth largest economy.

 

India is a country whose importance is such that it continually receives visits from heads of state and government from all over the world.

 

Over the past two years, India has been visited by the Presidents or Prime Ministers of the United States, Japan, China, Russia, Italy and other European countries, as well as the Presidents of Brazil, Chile and Venezuela.

 

As you know, this is my first visit to Asia and the first visit to India by a Mexican President in 22 years.  I obviously visited New Delhi, the political capital, Bangalore, which is the country's main technological center and now Mumbai, the principal economic center.

 

I held meetings with top government officials and the presidents of the leading Indian business conglomerates.

 

With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, I exchanged views on economic policy and development and we decided to continue promoting reciprocal trade and investments.

 

We agreed that the bilateral trade flows of nearly US$1.8 billion fail to reflect the size of our economies, and therefore agreed to attempt to achieve US$5 billion in bilateral trade by the end of my government [2012].

 

I also met the opposition leader and the president of the ruling party, the National Congress Party, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, who gave me extremely useful information on the country's political and economic evolution.

 

I also attended a working meeting with President of India Patribha Patil, the first woman President of India, who expressed interest in reinforcing economic and political relations between the two countries.

 

For its part, the Mexican private sector already values the importance of India as a market. Their interest is reflected in the large business delegation, comprised of over 120 businessmen from a wide range of productive sectors in Mexico.

 

This business delegation, which paid for its own expenses, is the largest ever to have accompanied a president on an overseas trip.

 

During this visit to India, three business seminars were organized to explain Mexico's perspectives and explore trade and investment opportunities.

 

Over 200 businessmen from each country took part in these meetings, and arranged 300 business meetings with each other.

 

I have already attended and will attend further meetings with the presidents of BIOCON, VIDEOCON, BIRLA, TATA MOTORS, TATA TCS, Reliacne, INFOSYS and WIPRO, during which we discussed investment projects currently underway in Mexico or under discussion, which in addition to promoting employment will contribute to technological development in Mexico.

 

If these projects come to fruition, Indian firms could invest at least a billion dollars in Mexico over the next few years.  Mexico will continue promoting its institutional links with India.

 

During this state visit, the following agreements were signed: An Extradition Treaty; a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty in Penal Matters; and a Double Taxation Treaty, and it should be pointed out that we recently signed an Agreement for the Reciprocal Protection and Promotion of Investment.

 

Negotiations and agreements will continue throughout the years in the areas of customs, air services and energy.

 

Mexico and India will prioritize three sectors: scientific and technological cooperation, with particular emphasis on information technologies; new, renewable forms of energy; and agricultural cooperation.

 

We stressed the need to work together on the issues of energy and food security.

I should mention that India and Mexico are also distinguished by their age-old cultures and histories.

 

As well, my visit to India took place within the framework of various cultural activities. In New Delhi I inaugurated an exhibition of pre-Hispanic, Zapotec and Mixtec art at the National Museum, the first Mexican exhibition in this great nation.

 

In Mumbai, I will inaugurate a painting and sculpture exhibition by Juan Soriano.

I also agreed with the Prime Minister for a large-scale exhibition on ancient Indian art to be held in Mexico.

 

Friends in the media, I have no doubt that this tour has been extremely productive for Mexico.

 

We have taken important steps towards reinforcing cooperation and integration with the leaders of the economies comprising the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), and with businessmen in India and New Zealand.

 

In the case of India, we have everything we need to achieve mutually beneficial stages in both trade, and bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

 

During this tour we have signed cooperation agreements and treaties, strengthened diplomatic relations, and reinforced our educational and cultural links; and held meetings with business leaders, promoted investment and trade in Mexico, all with the aim of reinforcing Mexico's international position.

 

The point, as I mentioned earlier, is to engage in active, responsible foreign policy that will enable us to translate our global interaction for the benefit of Mexicans.

 

This is what we are doing to have more of the world in Mexico and more of Mexico in the rest of the world, so that our country will have access to state-of-the-art knowledge, medicine, technology, art, culture and telecommunications, and take up a position of leadership in multilateral forums and throughout the region.

 

We have made a great deal of progress already, and I hope to achieve even more as a result of this trip.

 

Thank you for your attention.

 

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(Presidency of the Republic; Mumbai, India, September 11, 2007)

 

–  Presidency of the Republic translation