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Official Name - United Mexican States
Land Area - 1,953,162 sq km
Population - 106.7 million (mid 2008 estimate)
Capital City - Mexico City
Religion - Catholic
Official Language - Spanish
Currency - Peso
Political system - Presidential; Federal; Universal adult suffrage
National government - Cabinet appointed by President
National legislature - Bicameral Congress
Last election -, Congressional (lower house only) - July 2009
Next elections due - 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
Trade: Bruno Ferrari
Agriculture: Francisco Javier Mayorga
Main political parties -
Government: National Action Party (PAN)
Opposition: Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD)
GDP – US$1,034.8 billion (2010 nominal)
GDP Per Capita (PPP) – US$16,313 (2010)
Real GDP Growth – 5.4% (2010)
Exports FOB – US$298 billion (2010)
Imports FOB – US$301 billion (2010)
Consumer Price Inflation (average) – 4.4% (2010)
External debt stock – US$195 billion (2010 estimate)
Current account – deficit of US$3 billion (2010)
Source: Economist Intelligence Unit (2010 figures)
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New Zealand and Mexico first established diplomatic relations 37 years ago. Traditionally focused on trade and cooperation in multilateral forums, such as the UN, APEC, the International Whaling Commission amongst others, the bilateral relationship has broadened significantly in recent years to include a wide range of business, research, political, and people to people links. This growing engagement has been fostered by New Zealand’s Latin America Strategy and a web of bilateral arrangements including a:
Since the early 1970s Mexico has consistently been our top Latin American trading partners and among our most important milk powder markets in the world. In the year to December 2010:
Recognising the potential to strengthen our bilateral trade and economic links, 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’ in 2002. 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 the two 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.
Mexico is the fourteenth largest country in the world and has the fourteenth largest economy. Often referred to as the “fifth BRIC”, this large emerging economy combined with significant natural resources, agrowing middle class anda common border with the US, make Mexico a market of interest for New Zealand trade and investment.
Trade missions as well as Government-to-Government and business-to-business arrangements have supported New Zealand’s trade and investment links with Mexico in recent years.
Most recently, the Minister of Trade, Hon Tim Groser, led a business delegation visit to Mexico to meet with key Mexican business contacts and scope out trade and investment opportunities in Mexico in November 2010. The previous year a delegation of business people from New Zealand participated in a clean technologies summit organised by the New Zealand and Australian Embassies in Mexico.
A large Mexican public/private business delegation visited New Zealand in August 2008 led by Dr Bruno Ferrari, who was then 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.
The Mexico-New Zealand Double Taxation Agreement was signed in 2006 and entered into force in June 2007. This gives New Zealand investors greater certainty when operating in Mexico by clarifying the taxation rights of the two countries and introducing measures to relieve double taxation.
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, particularly as Mexico seeks to diversify its trade profile through adding value to its traditional agriculture exports, and a number of visits focused on this sector have taken place in recent years.
The Mexican Minister of Agriculture, Francisco Mayorga, led an agri-business delegation to New Zealand during June 2010. The delegation attended the Mystery Creek National Agricultural Fieldays and met with key New Zealand agricultural companies, education and training providers as well as research institutes.
A number of New Zealand experts have also been invited by Mexico to speak on New Zealand’s agricultural reform experience at conferences. John Luxton (Chair of DairyNZ) presented at the October 2010 Mexico Business Summit in front of an audience of close to 1000 participants from the Mexican business, Government and diplomatic communities.
Simon Tucker (DairyNZ) presented at the annual conference of the Mexican Dairy Industry (CIGAL) in August 2010. New Zealand’s Special Agricultural Trade Envoy (SATE), Alistair Polson, was invited by the Mexican Government to give a presentation at the inaugural Mexican forum on “Agrifood Policy in the Context of a Global Economic Crisis” in October 2009.
MAF Director-General Murray Sherwin led the New Zealand delegation at the inaugural meeting of the Agricultural and Forestry Cooperation Committee with the state of Jalisco, and also had meetings with Mexican federal government officials and industry in June 2009.
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.
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 LosAngeles. However, Mexicana has since ceased services in Mexico and it is uncertain whether the airline will recover.
The Mexico-New Zealand Working Holiday Scheme (WHS), 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 has been fully subscribed by young Mexicans each year.
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 interests 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.
Mexican post-graduate students are 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.
At the academic level, a number of exchanges and visits have taken place in recent years, including:
Most recently, Professor Reinhard Klette, of the Computer Science department at Auckland University, received the Mexican Government Scholarship under the special programmes section of the scholarships for foreigners, to give masters and doctorate level classes, at the Centro de Investigación en Matemáticas, A.C. (CIMAT) in the city of Guanajuato.
In January 2009, Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mexican Ministry of ForeignAffairs to provide for lecturers and experts from Mexican institutions to undertake teaching and research at VUW for one or two trimesters per year.
There has been wide range of cultural exchanges between New Zealand and Mexico in recent years. Notably, this includes links between New Zealand’s Te Papa museum and counterpart museums in Mexico. Te Papa is currently in discussions with Instituto Nacional De Antropologia E Historia (INAH) regarding a major Aztec exhibition travelling to New Zealand in 2011, in exchange for Te Papa’s E Tu Ake exhibition.
An art exhibition - Barrocco – from New Zealand will be held in Mexico’s MUAC Roma gallery in December 2011.
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.
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”.
A Renewable Energy Cooperation Arrangement was signed during the visit to Mexico by Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee in March 2010.
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. New Zealand and Mexico are also members of the Global Research Alliance on Agriculture Greenhouse Gases.
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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 together 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 for the periods 2002 – 2003 and 2009 – 2010, and Mexico has agreed to 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. Minister Groser visited Mexico three times in late 2010 and early 2011 in his capacity as Minister responsible for climate change negotiations, to participate in discussions including chairing a key working group during the Cancun negotiations in December 2010.
Mexico also works with New Zealand in the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases initiative, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions produced by agriculture.
In the trade area, New Zealand and Mexico are both members of APEC, the OECD and the WTO.
The New Zealand Embassy in Mexico City operates a Head of Mission Fund to support small scale, community-based development assistance projects.
Funding is granted each year to a diverse range of groups in various states of Mexico. The focus of the HOMF is to support rural development among indigenous peoples with a focus on women and children.
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.
The New Zealand Embassy in Mexico City [external link].
The Mexican Embassy in Wellington [external link].
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The Safe Travel website has comprehensive travel information including advice on the safety and security of travel to Mexico [external link].
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.
[1]
Chichen Itza is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya civilization located in the northern centre of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the Yucatán state, present-day Mexico.
