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LATIN AMERICA: "Chile: A Top Destination for Global Services" report
LATIN AMERICA: "Chile: A Top Destination for Global Services" report. 28-page report by A.T. Kearney.
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LATIN AMERICA: "Chile: A Top Destination for Global Services" report. 28-page report by A.T. Kearney.
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Mexico offers free trade areas for Turkish businessmen
Having signed free-trade agreements with 44 countries, Mexico offers Turkish businessmen a great gateway and potential to grow, top Mexican official to Turkey said in an exclusive interview with Today’s Zaman this week.
Mexico and Turkey are similar in a lot of ways. Both have a young population, with 112 million and 74 million, respectively, both are located at a very important geographical location -- Mexico shares a border with the US that is over 2,000 kilometers long. According to estimates released as part of the 2010 US census, Hispanics are now the largest minority, of which around 31 million are Mexican Americans.
The remittances Mexican Americans send to Mexico have now reached up to $25 billion, making this the third largest source of revenues after oil and tourism. Turkey is located between Europe and Asia. It neighbors the Middle East and sits at the far end of western Asia. Its income per capita in 2010 was around $12,300.
Mexico is the 13th largest economy in the world, and its $120 million in foreign reserves is the highest ever for this country. Income per capita is around $14,000 while a gross domestic product (GDP) of $1 trillion was recorded in 2010. In comparison, Turkey is the 16th largest economy in the world and, as Mexican Ambassador to Turkey Jaime Garcia Amaral put it, Mexico and Turkey have a lot in common. “When you take these facts into account, the $600 million trade volume is far from satisfactory,” he says.
Economically both countries’ attention was focused on economic activities within their proximity. For Mexico this is mainly the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) while for Turkey it is the EU.
Garcia Amaral says NAFTA has worked well for them, in that 80 percent of their trade is with the US while 20 percent is with the rest of the world. But he also says it is now time to look beyond its region for alternative markets.
Garcia Amaral says even though Mexico’s economy is strongly tied to the US economy, the last global crisis, which strongly affected the US, did not affect their country as much thanks to a solid financial system. “That is why we were able to get out of the crisis easier compared to developed countries. We did our homework,” he says. In that sense Turkey and Mexico followed a similar pattern during the global financial crisis; their economies contracted in 2009 but bounced back strongly in 2010.
Areas for cooperation and collaboration
According to the Mexican ambassador, there are several areas in which Turkey and Mexico can cooperate. He envisages the two engaging in more activities together. Ambassador Garcia Amaral brings up the example of Totomak Inc., a Turkish producer of compressors operating in Mexico that sells its products in the North American market, benefiting from NAFTA. The automotive and tourism sectors are also a good starting point for cooperation.
Geographical distance not an issue
The ambassador does not believe the physical distance between Turkey and Mexico is an issue or an impediment to bilateral relations. Technological advancements have shortened this distance nowadays, he says. “You go on the computer and click on a page and there you go, you are in Mexico,” he says.
What he believes is a problem is the lack of knowledge about each other, making it difficult for both sides to explore further business opportunities. “It is only when Turks travel to Mexico or Mexicans travel to Turkey that they can get to really know what each other’s culture is like and what you are really about.”
“There are plenty of ways both sides can get to know one another better; the limit is our imagination. Culture is a very important part of Mexican diplomacy and I am very proud of that,” he says.
Mexico’s infrastructure investment plan offers Turkish companies great opportunity
According to Garcia Amaral, Mexico has been undertaking a huge infrastructure plan to build roads, highways, railroads and more buildings and facilities at a total cost of $50 billion by the end of 2011 and thus offering Turkish businessmen a great opportunity. The total investment will be around 5 percent of Mexico’s GDP. To promote this opportunity Garcia Amaral has already attended several meetings in a number of cities, including Mersin and Bursa, where he presented the details of the planned investments. He has been attending several activities of a campaign called “Latin America meets Anatolia,” organized by Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK). He has also been busy participating with the meetings organized by Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON). More meetings with TUSKON will be held in Mexico next month.
“Latin American countries such as Chile, Ecuador and Paraguay occasionally join us for these presentations. Any invitation to promote trade and investment is acceptable to us. We will be there to present our case. In that sense we are pretty easygoing,” Amaral says.
Activities to promote Turkey in Mexico
Amaral says the Turkish Embassy in Mexico does a good job of promoting Turkey in the Mexican media and that it has been trying to get a “Year of Turkey” in one of the biggest art festivals in Mexico.
As part of a deal signed by Mexico and Turkey last year, Mexico offers scholarships to Turkish students. Amaral thinks one of the best ways to get to know one another is to promote more student exchanges and increase the number of students travelling to the two countries. He says when it comes to finding ways to improve Turkish-Mexican relations, only the sky is the limit.
Erdogan’s 2009 visit a turning point in relations
“I think one turning point was the visit of Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan to Mexico in 2009. The prime minister and our president had very good chemistry and the delegations of Mexico and Turkey decided to give special attention to economic relations. Turkey and Mexico have an economic commission that were created more than 10 years ago. There has been only one meeting in all those 10 years, so now we are trying to revive that and we hope this year we’ll be able to do it. We are working very hard to update our legal framework. At present, we are working on an agreement on double taxation, an agreement on the protection of investments, trying to prepare an agreement on customs cooperation as well as other agreements. We have an agreement that will be signed very soon on scientific and technological cooperation. So both sides are working,” Garcia Amaral says.
The problems Turkey and Mexico have, if any, are minor because, according to the Mexican ambassador, they resolve themselves. He thinks in general the prospective of future close friendship is very positive. He spoke with his Turkish colleagues, especially those from the Foreign Ministry, and said Mexico and Turkey are on the same page on a number of issues. “I think it is a good moment for sure,” Garcia Amaral asserts.
The people on both sides should travel to each other’s country more often to get a more accurate and first-hand knowledge of each other, Garcia Amaral suggests.
Similarities between the people
“The similarities, I think, in terms of society or civil society, we are very similar. I mean, we share a sense of hospitality, a sense of friendship, a sense of family. What I find very interesting in your case is that you have a very high spirit of entrepreneurship. I’m always amazed when I go to the cities in Turkey; you see all these small businesses and everyone is hiring and trying to get better and to get work and to get money. This spirit is very interesting. We have this in Mexico, especially in the north. I always notice this spirit in Turks, which is very good.”
‘Visas not an issue’
Garcia Amaral says when he first arrived in Turkey, the two, as he calls them, “emotional issues” were visas and free trade. He shares with Today’s Zaman the good news that Mexico is now issuing Turkish businessmen visas valid for 10 years. Moreover, the time it takes to issue a visa has been reduced to five business days. Also, those with a valid visa to the US, Canada or the EU are not required to obtain a visa to Mexico.
To top it all off, Garcia Amaral says, Mexico is also working on an online visa system through which applicants from Turkey will be able to directly communicate with the Mexican Interior Ministry prior to their travel to Mexico. Brazil, Ukraine and Russia are other countries that currently enjoy such a system with Mexico.
Mexico’s 44 free-trade agreements call for Turkish investors
Mexico signed its first free-trade agreement with Chile even before NAFTA came into force. “Mexico now has free-trade agreements such as NAFTA, free trade agreement with the EU, and a number of free-trade agreements with South American countries, a total of 44 countries offering great gateway opportunities for Turkish business groups.”
“Thus we have to spark interest for Turkish businessmen to invest in Mexico,” Amaral says.
He also gives the example of Chile, with which Mexico signed its first free-trade agreement. Now, he says, the agreement works really well with Chile and the free trade has had a spillover effect on other areas of cooperation between the said countries, including cooperation in the sectors of finance, banking, insurance and government purchases. This is real economic integration, Garcia Amaral says, and a natural product of a good free-trade agreement.
Despite the fact that NAFTA and free-trade agreements with Chile were a success for Mexico, Ambassador Garcia Amaral says this was not the case with all free-trade agreements Mexico entered into. For instance, he says the free-trade agreement with the EU has room to expand. For Amaral, the importance of free-trade agreements lies in the fact that it starts with trade and leads to other types of cooperation between countries. Agreements such as investment protection and preventing double taxation are examples of such higher-level cooperation.
With such extensive free-trade agreements, Garcia Amaral confirms that Mexico offers great opportunities to Turkish investors.
Mexico to assume G20 presidency next year
Mexico will assume the term presidency of the G20 next year and, according to Garcia Amaral, its agenda will be to establish a “very inclusive” mechanism when setting priorities and working hand-in-hand with other groups of countries. According to Amaral, Turkey and Mexico are in line with the idea of modernizing the international financial system. He says Mexico’s focus will rest on three main issues: global energy, international development and climate change. He also says Mexico’s agenda has not yet been finalized; however, fighting corruption will definitely be on it.
Events in North Africa and Turkey’s lead role
The Mexican ambassador says he is following very carefully what is happening in the Arab world. “Whatever happens in any part of the world is of concern to everyone now. Look at what happened in Japan and how it affected the whole world. And I am sure what has been happening in North Africa also has the same effect, to a large or small degree, on other parts of the world.”
Garcia Amaral praises Turkey’s role in dealing with the events and its increasing role in the region. He says Turkey has taken on a highly active foreign policy. Referring to the frequent visits of Prime Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Amaral says he is surprised by their ability to be in a lot of places at the same time. “This is very important for Turkey and it is very positive. You get a more powerful insight and a closer view of what is happening in this region because you are a key player,” he explains.
Mexico’s fight against organized crime
Referring to the Mexican government’s fight against organized crime, Garcia Amaral says business in the country continues on as usual and that the fight between the government and organized criminal gangs does not affect everyday trade. He says the fight against organized crime is not a problem faced by one country alone but a regional and international matter. “For the moment we know that it will take some years before the dust settles fully because fighting against such organized crime is no easy task.”
The perception the outside world has of some countries does not necessarily match reality; in fact, when you travel to countries such as Turkey and Mexico, people are surprised by what they see in real life. They tend to be amazed by the dynamic young population, the economic activity and the liveliness of everyday business in these countries, he says.
Source: Today's Zaman - GAI
backLATINtalk May, 2011
Mexico offers free trade areas for Turkish businessmen
Having signed free-trade agreements with 44 countries, Mexico offers Turkish businessmen a great gateway and potential to grow, top Mexican official to Turkey said in an exclusive interview with Today’s Zaman this week.
Mexico and Turkey are similar in a lot of ways. Both have a young population, with 112 million and 74 million, respectively, both are located at a very important geographical location -- Mexico shares a border with the US that is over 2,000 kilometers long. According to estimates released as part of the 2010 US census, Hispanics are now the largest minority, of which around 31 million are Mexican Americans.
The remittances Mexican Americans send to Mexico have now reached up to $25 billion, making this the third largest source of revenues after oil and tourism. Turkey is located between Europe and Asia. It neighbors the Middle East and sits at the far end of western Asia. Its income per capita in 2010 was around $12,300.
Mexico is the 13th largest economy in the world, and its $120 million in foreign reserves is the highest ever for this country. Income per capita is around $14,000 while a gross domestic product (GDP) of $1 trillion was recorded in 2010. In comparison, Turkey is the 16th largest economy in the world and, as Mexican Ambassador to Turkey Jaime Garcia Amaral put it, Mexico and Turkey have a lot in common. “When you take these facts into account, the $600 million trade volume is far from satisfactory,” he says.
Economically both countries’ attention was focused on economic activities within their proximity. For Mexico this is mainly the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) while for Turkey it is the EU.
Garcia Amaral says NAFTA has worked well for them, in that 80 percent of their trade is with the US while 20 percent is with the rest of the world. But he also says it is now time to look beyond its region for alternative markets.
Garcia Amaral says even though Mexico’s economy is strongly tied to the US economy, the last global crisis, which strongly affected the US, did not affect their country as much thanks to a solid financial system. “That is why we were able to get out of the crisis easier compared to developed countries. We did our homework,” he says. In that sense Turkey and Mexico followed a similar pattern during the global financial crisis; their economies contracted in 2009 but bounced back strongly in 2010.
Areas for cooperation and collaboration
According to the Mexican ambassador, there are several areas in which Turkey and Mexico can cooperate. He envisages the two engaging in more activities together. Ambassador Garcia Amaral brings up the example of Totomak Inc., a Turkish producer of compressors operating in Mexico that sells its products in the North American market, benefiting from NAFTA. The automotive and tourism sectors are also a good starting point for cooperation.
Geographical distance not an issue
The ambassador does not believe the physical distance between Turkey and Mexico is an issue or an impediment to bilateral relations. Technological advancements have shortened this distance nowadays, he says. “You go on the computer and click on a page and there you go, you are in Mexico,” he says.
What he believes is a problem is the lack of knowledge about each other, making it difficult for both sides to explore further business opportunities. “It is only when Turks travel to Mexico or Mexicans travel to Turkey that they can get to really know what each other’s culture is like and what you are really about.”
“There are plenty of ways both sides can get to know one another better; the limit is our imagination. Culture is a very important part of Mexican diplomacy and I am very proud of that,” he says.
Mexico’s infrastructure investment plan offers Turkish companies great opportunity
According to Garcia Amaral, Mexico has been undertaking a huge infrastructure plan to build roads, highways, railroads and more buildings and facilities at a total cost of $50 billion by the end of 2011 and thus offering Turkish businessmen a great opportunity. The total investment will be around 5 percent of Mexico’s GDP. To promote this opportunity Garcia Amaral has already attended several meetings in a number of cities, including Mersin and Bursa, where he presented the details of the planned investments. He has been attending several activities of a campaign called “Latin America meets Anatolia,” organized by Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK). He has also been busy participating with the meetings organized by Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON). More meetings with TUSKON will be held in Mexico next month.
“Latin American countries such as Chile, Ecuador and Paraguay occasionally join us for these presentations. Any invitation to promote trade and investment is acceptable to us. We will be there to present our case. In that sense we are pretty easygoing,” Amaral says.
Activities to promote Turkey in Mexico
Amaral says the Turkish Embassy in Mexico does a good job of promoting Turkey in the Mexican media and that it has been trying to get a “Year of Turkey” in one of the biggest art festivals in Mexico.
As part of a deal signed by Mexico and Turkey last year, Mexico offers scholarships to Turkish students. Amaral thinks one of the best ways to get to know one another is to promote more student exchanges and increase the number of students travelling to the two countries. He says when it comes to finding ways to improve Turkish-Mexican relations, only the sky is the limit.
Erdogan’s 2009 visit a turning point in relations
“I think one turning point was the visit of Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan to Mexico in 2009. The prime minister and our president had very good chemistry and the delegations of Mexico and Turkey decided to give special attention to economic relations. Turkey and Mexico have an economic commission that were created more than 10 years ago. There has been only one meeting in all those 10 years, so now we are trying to revive that and we hope this year we’ll be able to do it. We are working very hard to update our legal framework. At present, we are working on an agreement on double taxation, an agreement on the protection of investments, trying to prepare an agreement on customs cooperation as well as other agreements. We have an agreement that will be signed very soon on scientific and technological cooperation. So both sides are working,” Garcia Amaral says.
The problems Turkey and Mexico have, if any, are minor because, according to the Mexican ambassador, they resolve themselves. He thinks in general the prospective of future close friendship is very positive. He spoke with his Turkish colleagues, especially those from the Foreign Ministry, and said Mexico and Turkey are on the same page on a number of issues. “I think it is a good moment for sure,” Garcia Amaral asserts.
The people on both sides should travel to each other’s country more often to get a more accurate and first-hand knowledge of each other, Garcia Amaral suggests.
Similarities between the people
“The similarities, I think, in terms of society or civil society, we are very similar. I mean, we share a sense of hospitality, a sense of friendship, a sense of family. What I find very interesting in your case is that you have a very high spirit of entrepreneurship. I’m always amazed when I go to the cities in Turkey; you see all these small businesses and everyone is hiring and trying to get better and to get work and to get money. This spirit is very interesting. We have this in Mexico, especially in the north. I always notice this spirit in Turks, which is very good.”
‘Visas not an issue’
Garcia Amaral says when he first arrived in Turkey, the two, as he calls them, “emotional issues” were visas and free trade. He shares with Today’s Zaman the good news that Mexico is now issuing Turkish businessmen visas valid for 10 years. Moreover, the time it takes to issue a visa has been reduced to five business days. Also, those with a valid visa to the US, Canada or the EU are not required to obtain a visa to Mexico.
To top it all off, Garcia Amaral says, Mexico is also working on an online visa system through which applicants from Turkey will be able to directly communicate with the Mexican Interior Ministry prior to their travel to Mexico. Brazil, Ukraine and Russia are other countries that currently enjoy such a system with Mexico.
Mexico’s 44 free-trade agreements call for Turkish investors
Mexico signed its first free-trade agreement with Chile even before NAFTA came into force. “Mexico now has free-trade agreements such as NAFTA, free trade agreement with the EU, and a number of free-trade agreements with South American countries, a total of 44 countries offering great gateway opportunities for Turkish business groups.”
“Thus we have to spark interest for Turkish businessmen to invest in Mexico,” Amaral says.
He also gives the example of Chile, with which Mexico signed its first free-trade agreement. Now, he says, the agreement works really well with Chile and the free trade has had a spillover effect on other areas of cooperation between the said countries, including cooperation in the sectors of finance, banking, insurance and government purchases. This is real economic integration, Garcia Amaral says, and a natural product of a good free-trade agreement.
Despite the fact that NAFTA and free-trade agreements with Chile were a success for Mexico, Ambassador Garcia Amaral says this was not the case with all free-trade agreements Mexico entered into. For instance, he says the free-trade agreement with the EU has room to expand. For Amaral, the importance of free-trade agreements lies in the fact that it starts with trade and leads to other types of cooperation between countries. Agreements such as investment protection and preventing double taxation are examples of such higher-level cooperation.
With such extensive free-trade agreements, Garcia Amaral confirms that Mexico offers great opportunities to Turkish investors.
Mexico to assume G20 presidency next year
Mexico will assume the term presidency of the G20 next year and, according to Garcia Amaral, its agenda will be to establish a “very inclusive” mechanism when setting priorities and working hand-in-hand with other groups of countries. According to Amaral, Turkey and Mexico are in line with the idea of modernizing the international financial system. He says Mexico’s focus will rest on three main issues: global energy, international development and climate change. He also says Mexico’s agenda has not yet been finalized; however, fighting corruption will definitely be on it.
Events in North Africa and Turkey’s lead role
The Mexican ambassador says he is following very carefully what is happening in the Arab world. “Whatever happens in any part of the world is of concern to everyone now. Look at what happened in Japan and how it affected the whole world. And I am sure what has been happening in North Africa also has the same effect, to a large or small degree, on other parts of the world.”
Garcia Amaral praises Turkey’s role in dealing with the events and its increasing role in the region. He says Turkey has taken on a highly active foreign policy. Referring to the frequent visits of Prime Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Amaral says he is surprised by their ability to be in a lot of places at the same time. “This is very important for Turkey and it is very positive. You get a more powerful insight and a closer view of what is happening in this region because you are a key player,” he explains.
Mexico’s fight against organized crime
Referring to the Mexican government’s fight against organized crime, Garcia Amaral says business in the country continues on as usual and that the fight between the government and organized criminal gangs does not affect everyday trade. He says the fight against organized crime is not a problem faced by one country alone but a regional and international matter. “For the moment we know that it will take some years before the dust settles fully because fighting against such organized crime is no easy task.”
The perception the outside world has of some countries does not necessarily match reality; in fact, when you travel to countries such as Turkey and Mexico, people are surprised by what they see in real life. They tend to be amazed by the dynamic young population, the economic activity and the liveliness of everyday business in these countries, he says.
Source: Today's Zaman - GAI
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