Abu Dhabi:

Francisco Alonso, Mexican ambassador to UAE, stressed Mexican government’s interest to strengthen its economic ties with the UAE and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

“We are working on improving bilateral trade exchange by promoting our products. There are many partnership companies working in the UAE,” said Alonso.

He voiced both countries’ readiness and keenness to develop their relations in all areas, saying that the volume of trade exchange between the two countries amounted to $1 billion in 2012.

“In Mexico, we manufacture many commodities which can be of interest to many countries. These include manufactured goods, electronics, oil and oil products, aircraft, silver, computers and servers, fruits, meats, consumer electronics, processed foods, vegetables, ships, coffee, LCD screens, electricity, biotechnology, cotton, rolling stock, automotive and aircraft engines, cellular phones, metals, industrial equipment, granite and marble, lithium batteries,” the ambassador was quoted as saying.

He added that Mexico imports aluminium, and minerals. In 2012, the two countries signed the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) to strengthen mutual economic and trade relations and to develop investments between the two countries.

“The agreement included several financial and tax benefits for investments of the public and private sectors in the UAE, which allows the establishment of a strategic cooperation and integration with Mexico and other countries of Latin America,” said the ambassador.

Mexican GDP is expected to grow by 3.5 per cent in 2013 to reach $1.82 trillion (Dh6.68 trillion) up from $1.761 trillion in 2012, benefitting from the very great number of industries in the country catering to serve the USA market and other countries, according to Alonso.

“Mexico has a wealth of modern and highly advanced industries. Our economy is growing steadily and is currently on the top 17 world economies,” said Alonso.

Tourism and aviation

Alonso said travel between the both countries was already vibrant.

“About 12,000 Mexicans tourists visited the UAE. About 2,000 Mexicans work in the UAE at different jobs including pilots, engineers, doctors and designers,” said the ambassador.

Mexico is one of the top 10 tourist destinations worldwide and one of our objectives is to be on the top five by 2020, he said.

“More than 29 million tourists visited Mexico last year and this number is slated to increase further throughout this year as Mexico enjoys very friendly ties with all other countries,” said the ambassador.

He pointed out that there are talks with Emirates Airlines to launch routes to Mexico. But he did not elaborate further on this matter or the outcome of the talks.

He said in 2012, Mexico produced three million vehicles, and that this numbers was growing.

“Mexico has become quite an automotive powerhouse,” said Alonso, adding that Mexico is a very lucrative country with great potential for many industries.