Room to grow for Mexican trade

  • 2013-05-15
  • From wire reports

FACILITATING TRADE: Estonian, Finnish and Mexican officials met to promote closer economic ties.

TALLINN - Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, who was on a visit in Mexico together with Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb and an Estonian-Finnish business delegation last week, said at the Estonia-Finland-Mexico business seminar that in 2012 Estonia’s exports to Mexico have grown over the previous year, reports LETA.
“Last year Estonia’s exports to Mexico exceeded 110 million euros and made up 0.9 percent of our total exports,” he said. “This meant that Mexico rose to the position of Estonia’s 20th trade partner,” he added.

Paet invited Mexican businesses to invest in Estonia. “Estonia has an open economy and many information technology solutions that simplify business and its management,” he noted. To date, Mexican companies have made direct investments in Estonia’s information and communication sector as well as real estate.

According to Paet, the companies participating in the Mexico visit with him offer top quality products and services in their fields. “We hope that the contacts created at the seminar will give an impetus for future cooperation,” he noted.
During Foreign Minister Paet and Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade Stubb’s joint meeting with the deputy minister of economic affairs of Mexico, Foreign Minister Paet said that there is a simple and transparent business environment in Estonia and Mexican companies could consider investing in Estonia as a gateway to the Scandinavian and Russian markets.

“We hope that the contacts created between Estonian and Mexican entrepreneurs during this trip will help make this happen,” said Paet. “The cooperation agreement concluded in Mexico between the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Mexican Chamber of International Trade, Investments and Technology will also facilitate the creation of closer ties between our business communities,” he added.

Foreign Minister Paet stated that the logistics sector could be an area of mutual interest for Estonia and Mexico. “Thanks to Estonia’s geographical location and well-developed economic environment, we could be a distribution center for cargo coming from and going to Mexico,” stated Paet. “The information technology sector also offers many opportunities for cooperation. Concrete cooperation with Regio to use location-based solutions in Mexico has already begun, and hopefully many of our other innovative e-solutions will come here soon as well,” he added.
Foreign Minister Paet also met with Mexico’s deputy minister for health care, with whom he talked about cooperation in the e-health sector.

Nearly 100 participants took part in the Estonia-Finland-Mexico business seminar.