United Mexican States

Relationship with New Zealand

New Zealand and Mexico enjoy a warm and positive relationship that is growing and expanding. Traditionally focused on trade, bilateral contact has broadened significantly in recent years across a wide range of political, social, economic and cultural issues and activities, particularly through the Latin America Strategy. The two foreign ministries hold regular foreign policy consultations covering a wide range of bilateral and multilateral issues.

2008 marks the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in July 1973, and the 25th anniversary of the opening of the New Zealand Embassy in Mexico City in 1983.

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Trade and economic links

Since the early 1970s Mexico has consistently been our top Latin American trading partner and is among our most important milk powder markets anywhere in the world. In the year to June 2008, New Zealand exported NZ$602.1 million worth of goods to Mexico.

 

Recognising the tremendous potential to strengthen our bilateral trade and economic relationship, in 2002 the New Zealand and Mexican governments agreed to undertake a study of the possibility of negotiating of a Closer Economic Partnership (CEP) or Free Trade Agreement (FTA) ‘plus’.  The joint experts group established to undertake the study consisted of government officials, business representatives, and academics from both countries.

 

The report of the joint experts group was presented to New Zealand and Mexican Ministers in late 2006. It confirmed that our economies are complementary and outlined the potential benefits of a closer economic partnership or ‘FTA plus’, where in addition to removing traditional barriers to trade, both countries could grow from strategic cooperation through research and development.

Business links

A large Mexican public/private business delegation visited New Zealand in August 2008 led by Dr Bruno Ferrari, the head of Mexico’s trade and investment promotion organisation, ProMéxico. The group visited research centres and businesses in Auckland and Hamilton to explore commercial and technological cooperation opportunities. During the visit the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology (COMCE) signed memoranda of understanding with the Latin America New Zealand Business Council (LANZBC) and the New Zealand Chambers of Commerce and Industry (NZCCI) to facilitate the exchange of information and promote mutual trade, investment and technology transfers between New Zealand and Mexico.

A cooperation agreement between TradeNZ (now NZTE) and Bancomext (the state-owned Mexican foreign trade bank) was signed in February 1992. This Agreement provides for information sharing and the facilitation of each other’s trade promotion efforts. In April 1994 a bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (TIA) was signed. The TIA provides for discussions on trade and investment issues. The most recent round of TIA talks was held in Mexico in June 2002, with the issues of concern since covered through the FTA plus study/JEG processes (see above).

Further supporting the development of strategic business partnerships, a double tax agreement was signed in 2006 and entered into force in June 2007.

Agriculture

• New Zealand and Mexico have largely complementary economies, with New Zealand’s strength in agriculture and Mexico’s strength in manufacturing. Agriculture is an area with great potential for growth in trade and cooperation, and a number of visits focused on this sector have taken place in recent years.

The Governor of the State of Jalisco, Mr Emilio González, visited New Zealand in October 2008 with a large public/private delegation to explore collaborative opportunities in a range of areas, most notably agribusiness. During the delegation’s five-day programme the Governor met with the then Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Biosecurity and Fisheries Hon Jim Anderton and signed an Arrangement on Agricultural Cooperation between the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) and the State of Jalisco.

 

Mr Francisco Conejo, President of the Jalisco Foundation, led a delegation to New Zealand in October 2007 to explore agribusiness cooperation opportunities. In addition to meeting with Ministers Anderton and Goff, and government officials, the delegation met with a number of Crown Research Institutes and the private sector in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington.

 

Hon Jim Anderton visited Mexico in July 2007 to meet with the Mexican administration, Senate, Chamber of Deputies and agribusiness groups to discuss ways to realise the potential in the New Zealand-Mexico bilateral agricultural and trade relationship. During the visit Minister Anderton also visited the states of Mexico and Jalisco, and met with key officials, including the Governor of Jalisco. 

 

In May 2007 the Special Agricultural Trade Envoy, Alistair Polson, visited Mexico to meet with key Mexican agricultural groups and discuss themes of common interest. 

 

Officials from the New Zealand Food Safety Authority visited Mexico on three occasions in 2007 to progress the use of electronic certification in our bilateral agricultural trade, and to further other areas of collaboration with the Mexican agriculture ministry, SAGARPA.  

 

The Director General of the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Murray Sherwin, also visited Mexico in July 2006 to develop dialogue with the country’s agricultural sector.

 

In 2003 the President of Federated Farmers visited Mexico to speak at a producers’ conference and a delegation representing the Governor of the State of Michoacán visited New Zealand with a programme focused on agriculture and trade. 

In 2001, representatives of Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture travelled to New Zealand to undertake training in pest-risk management techniques. 

Air services

An air services agreement was signed in 1999. The agreement provides for open capacity for traffic between Mexico and New Zealand only, and for the introduction of third country traffic if agreed at a later stage. Under the agreement Air New Zealand and Mexicana have entered into code-share services between the two countries via Los Angeles. Upon its expiry in March 2003 and again in 2006, both governments agreed to extend the agreement for three years.

People to people links

Education cooperation and student exchanges

An overarching education cooperation agreement was signed in 2004 during the visit to Mexico by an education mission led by then Minister of Education Trevor Mallard.

 

Many New Zealand universities and polytechnics, including Auckland, Otago, AUT, Massey and Weltec have formed relationships with Mexican counterparts, opening up opportunities for cooperation and student and staff exchanges. An increasing volume of university agreements (18 in total) reflect the educational interest between Mexico and New Zealand:

• Auckland University has agreements with CIDE and El Colegio de Mexico, and is a member, with Tec de Monterrey, of the Universitas 21 alliance.
• AUT has agreements with Tec de Monterrey, the Universidad Veracruzana, the Universidad de Guadalajara, and the Universidad Anahuac del Sur.
• Waikato University has agreements with Tec de Monterrey and the Universidad de las Americas.
• Over the past five years, approximately 30 students from the University of Otago have undertaken exchange programmes with the University of Colima in Mexico. Otago also has agreements with ITAM, the Universidad Veracruzana, the Universidad Autónoma a de Yucatán, and UNAM.
• WelTec signed an agreement in June 2007 with CESSA University in Mexico City.

Overall in 2007, 245 Mexican students studied in New Zealand including: 10 students in schools, 25 in universities and polytechnics, and 210 in private training establishments (including English language providers). 

 

At the academic level, a number of exchanges and visits have taken place in recent years, including:

• A visit to New Zealand in February 2008 by the Principal of Mexico’s Edmund Hillary College to meet with educators and policy makers and learn from New Zealand teaching systems, methods, and best practice.
• Participation by Mexican academic Dr Luis Rubio in the Victoria University of Wellington seminar "Latin America Today: Challenges, Opportunities and Trans-Pacific Perspectives", in September 2007.
• A visit by the Director General of the Mexican National Association of Universities and Tertiary Institutions (ANUIES) to New Zealand in August 2007 to attend an International Education Conference and meet with New Zealand education providers and policy makers.
• Dr Matthew O’Meagher, visited Mexico in 2005 representing the University of Auckland to explore New Zealand’s education interests in Mexico.  (Dr O’Meagher is now New Zealand’s Education Counsellor for Latin America, based in Santiago.)
• A group of academics from the University of Guadalajara’s Department of Pacific Studies visited Auckland and Wellington in February 2003.
• Most recently in January 2009, Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide for lecturers and experts from Mexican institutions to undertake teaching and research at VUW for one or two trimesters per year.

• The New Zealand Government awards up to two scholarships each year for Mexican students to finish their undergraduate studies in New Zealand. Mexican post-graduate students are also eligible for the New Zealand Government’s international doctorate scholarship programme. The Mexican Government awards up to four post-graduate scholarships to New Zealand students on an annual basis.   

Cultural links

There has been wide range of cultural exchanges between New Zealand and Mexico in recent years, in particular with support under the Latin America Strategy. Examples include:

• Te Papa Chief Executive, Dr Seddon Bennington, visited Mexico in July 2006 to discuss cooperation and possible exhibition exchanges.  In follow up, the Oceania Curator of the Mexican National Museum of Cultures, Dr Raffaela Cedraschi, undertook a two week residency at Te Papa in October 2007. 
• The Kahurangi Maori performing arts group performed in Mexico for Waitangi Day and the opening of a new Chancery (Embassy office) in February 2004 and visited again in May 2007 to perform in the Ollinkan Festival of indigenous cultures.
• Dame Malvina Major performed at the prestigious Cervantino Performing Arts Festival in October 2004, as did the dance troupe Black Grace in 2005 and the New Zealand String Quartet in 2006. 
• In 2001, the New Zealand Embassy in Mexico City was involved in promoting New Zealand and Maori culture at festivals in Mexico City and Guanajuato, and a Maori performing group visited Mexico.

Visas

Mexican and New Zealand citizens are able to travel to each other’s country for up to 90 days without needing to apply for a visa beforehand.

 

A working holiday scheme, Mexico’s first, was signed during President Calderón’s visit to New Zealand in September 2007. The scheme allows 200 people aged 18-30 from each country to spend a year travelling, working and studying in the other. The scheme began on 31 March 2008 and is expected to greatly enhance the people-to-people links between New Zealand and Mexico.

Science and technology

An umbrella agreement on scientific and technological cooperation was signed in August 1983. In March 2004 the New Zealand Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST) and its Mexican counterpart CONACYT took steps to promote relations by signing an “Arrangement on Scientific, Research and Technological Cooperation”.

 

In March 2006, a delegation of senior representatives from four Crown Research Institutes visited Mexico to establish and consolidate research, science and technology links.

 

Mexican scientists are members of the LEARN (Livestock Emissions and Abatement Research Network) and have participated in conferences in New Zealand in 2007 and Uruguay in 2008.

Social development

Liliana Rojero, Executive Secretary of the Mexican National Women's Institute (INMUJERES) visited New Zealand in June 2007 to explore the role and work of New Zealand government departments and agencies in addressing family violence and women’s refuge issues.

 

In October 2006, restorative justice expert Dr Gabrielle Maxwell and coordinator Saskia Schuitemaker visited Mexico to meet with justice reform contacts and undertake a series of seminars and workshops.

 

Early in 2005 Ombudsman John Belgrave visited Mexico to attend an international conference and have a series of bilateral discussions with Mexican organisations involved in freedom of information and human rights.

In 2001 Mexico’s Federal Electoral Institute visited New Zealand for discussions with counterparts. Also that year, a six-member New Zealand delegation travelled to Mexico to lead a conference on natural resource management.

Political links

Multilateral links

New Zealand and Mexico share common interests in many international fora and held their first multilateral foreign policy consultations in October 2007 in Mexico City.

 

Mexico and New Zealand have cooperated closely on disarmament issues for many years, notably over the annual United Nations Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty resolution. Both are members of the New Agenda group dedicated to making progress on nuclear disarmament issues and the Oslo Process on cluster munitions, and belong to regional Nuclear Weapon Free Zone treaties.

 

Cooperation is steadily increasing in multilateral human rights fora; New Zealand and Mexico worked closely on the development of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

 

New Zealand was a strong supporter of Mexico’s successful candidacy for a seat on the United Nations Security Council 2002 - 2003. As confirmed during President Calderón’s visit to New Zealand in September 2007, New Zealand supported Mexico’s candidature to the United Nations Security Council for the period 2009 - 2010, and Mexico will support New Zealand’s candidature to the same body for the period 2015 - 2016.

 

Environmental issues are also an important area of cooperation, particularly in climate change and whales conservation. New Zealand’s Climate Change Ambassador, Adrian Macey, visited Mexico for climate change talks in May 2008.

 

In the multilateral/regional trade area, New Zealand and Mexico are both members of APEC, the OECD and the WTO. 

Development assistance

The New Zealand Embassy in Mexico City operates a Head of Mission Fund to support small scale, community-based development assistance projects.

 

In the 2007/08 financial year, funding was granted to a diverse group of projects, including:

• training, promotion and construction of ecological stoves in Chiapas;
• production of organic fertilisers in Purepecha Basin Communities in Michoacán; and
• construction and development of water storage cisterns and family gardens in Guerrero.

Visits

Visits between New Zealand and Mexico have enjoyed a new momentum since the launch of the Latin America Strategy in 2000. In addition to the wide range of people-to-people contacts in the cultural, scientific and education fields, high-level visits have added depth to the bilateral relationship.

Recent visits by high level New Zealanders to Mexico:

• July 2007 Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Biosecurity and Fisheries Hon Jim Anderton for talks on agriculture and economic issues
• March 2007 Minister of Trade, Defence, Disarmament and Arms Control, Hon Phil Goff for talks on economic and disarmament issues
• Feb 2007 Former Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control, Hon Marian Hobbs MP, to attend celebrations to mark the 40th Anniversary of the Treaty of Tlatelolco and associated conference on nuclear weapon free zones
• April 2005 Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Margaret Wilson, with a parliamentary delegation
• April 2005 Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control, Hon Marian Hobbs, to attend a conference on nuclear weapon free zones
• April 2004 Minister of Education Hon Trevor Mallard, with an education delegation
• Sept 2003 Minister for Trade Negotiations Hon Jim Sutton, to attend the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Cancún
• 2002 Prime Minister Helen Clark, Minister of Finance Hon Dr Michael Cullen, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Hon Phil Goff, Minister for Trade Negotiations Hon Jim Sutton (twice), and Attorney General Margaret Wilson, to attend APEC meetings
• June 2002 Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade Neil Walter, for policy consultations
• March 2002 Hon Matt Robson, to attend the UN Financing for Developing Conference in Monterrey
• Nov 2001 Prime Minister Helen Clark, accompanied by cultural and business delegations
• July 2001 Hon Matt Robson, for talks on disarmament issues

Recent visits by high level Mexicans to New Zealand:

• Sept 2007 President Felipe Calderón, Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa and General Director of ProMéxico, Bruno Ferrari

• May 2006 Prime Minister’s Fellow, Congresswoman Adriana González Carillo

• Nov 2005 Mexican Vice-Minister of Education Dr Silvia Ortega, to discuss key education issues
• August 2005 Mexican Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Lourdes Aranda, for foreign policy consultations
• August 2003 Mexican Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Enrique Berruga, for policy consultations
• Sept 2002 Mexican Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Miguel Marín Bosch, for policy consultations
• Sept 1999 President Zedillo, with the Mexican delegation to APEC

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Key facts

Geography/Demographics

Official Name - United Mexican States
Land Area –  1,953,162 sq km
Population –  110 million (2008 estimate)
Capital City – Mexico City
Religion – Catholic
Official Language – Spanish
Currency – Peso
Exchange Rate –  US$1 = 14.18 MXM (February 2008)

Political

Political system – Presidential; Federal; Universal adult suffrage

National government – Cabinet appointed by President

National legislature – Bicameral Congress

Last election – President and Congress July 2006

Next election due – Congressional (lower house only) – July 2009; Presidential and Congressional (upper and lower house) – July 2012;

Head of State – President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa

 

Head of Government – President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa

 

Key Ministers –

Foreign Affairs: Patricia Espinosa Cantellano

Economy:  Gerardo Ruiz Mateos

Agriculture: Alberto Cárdenas Jiménez

Finance and Public Credit: Agustín Carstens

 

Main political parties –

Government: National Action Party (PAN)

Opposition: Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD)

Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)

Economic

GDP – US$1,038.2 billion (2008 estimate)

GDP Per Capita (PPP) – US$14,245 (2008 estimate)

Real GDP Growth – 1.8% (2008 estimate)

Exports FOB – US$293.633 billion (2008 estimate)

Imports FOB – US$281.9 billion

 

Main exports –

Manufactured goods: US$219,388 million

Oil: US$43,018 million

Agricultural products: US$7,732 million

Mining products: US$1,737 million

 

Consumer Price Inflation (average) – 5.1% (2008 estimate)

Gross external debt – US$179.7 billion (2008 estimate)

Current account – US -$19.7 billion (2008 estimate)

 

Source:  Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)

Trade with New Zealand

New Zealand/Mexico top 20 trade figures

 

New Zealand Exports	NZ$602.1 million
Main Exports	Milk Powder (51%) Butter (11%) Sheepmeat (7%) Casein (7%) Whey and products (6%) Cheese (4%) Live beef (2%) Frozen beef (1%)
New Zealand Imports	NZ$155.2 million
Main Imports	Telephone equipment (14%) Computers (10%) Beer (7%) Medical or veterinary instruments (4%) Ethyl alcohol (4%) Machinery, parts (3%) Iron or steel tubes or pipes (3%) Paper towels (2%) Motor vehicles (2%) Microphones and their stands (2%) Taps, cocks (1%)

Source: Statistics New Zealand (year to June 2008)

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Embassies

The New Zealand Embassy in Mexico City is responsible for Mexico.

The Mexican Embassy of Mexico in Wellington is responsible for New Zealand.

Travel advice

The New Zealand government's Safe Travel website has comprehensive travel information including advice on the safety and security of travel to Uruguay.

Further enquiries may be directed to:

Consular Division

Tel: +64 4 439 8000
Fax: +64 4 439 8532

cons@mfat.govt.nz

New Zealanders and Mexicans travelling to each other's country for less than three months do not need to apply for a visa beforehand.

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