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In August 1983 New Zealand and Mexico signed an umbrella agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (STC). In March 2004 MoRST and its counterpart CONACYT took steps to promote relations by signing an “Arrangement on Scientific, Research and Technological Cooperation”. 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 CEP study/JEG processes (see below).
An Air Services Agreement (ASA) 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 ASA for three years.
An Education Cooperation Agreement was signed in 2004 during the visit to Mexico by an education mission led by Minister Trevor Mallard.
At the end of year (2002) APEC meetings held in Los Cabos, Baja California, it was agreed that each country would undertake a study of the possibility of negotiating of a Closer Economic Partnership (CEP) agreement. Mexico subsequently decided to implement a moratorium on new free trade agreements, while considering its general approach to economic liberalisation. At the end of 2004, New Zealand and Mexico agreed to form a Joint Experts’ Group (JEG) to study the bilateral economic relationship in more detail. The JEG consists of government officials, business representatives, and academics from both countries. The JEG report was finalised and presented to Ministers in November 2006. A Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) was signed in 2006 and entered into force in June 2007.
Since the early 1970s Mexico has consistently been our top Latin American trading partner and currently accounts for nearly half of New Zealand exports to the region. It is among our most important milk powder markets anywhere in the world.
New Zealand exports to Mexico in the year to December 2006 were worth NZ$424 million, consisting primarily of dairy products and meat. Mexican exports to New Zealand, mostly computers, beer, motor vehicles and transmission apparatus, were worth NZ$138 million.
Some exports to Mexico declined after 1993, reflecting increased competition from North American products as NAFTA tariff preferences came into effect. For example, until 1994 there was rapid growth in exports of New Zealand beef to Mexico. The launch of NAFTA on 1 January 1994 reduced the trade considerably over the next few years, and it only recovered to near its previous value (around NZ$34 million p.a.) in 2001. Over the 2006 calendar year beef exports totalled NZ$18.5 million. Kiwifruit exports are similarly disadvantaged vis-à-vis Chilean kiwifruit.
Although New Zealand’s relationship with Mexico has traditionally been strongly focused on trade, it has been broadened in recent years, particularly through the Latin America Strategy. In 1998 the Mexican Government initiated the award of two post-graduate scholarships to New Zealand students on an annual basis. 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 group visited Mexico. Also in 2001, representatives of Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture travelled to New Zealand to undertake training in pest-risk management techniques, and Mexico’s Federal Electoral Institute visited New Zealand for discussions with relevant counterparts, while a six-member New Zealand delegation travelled to Mexico to lead a Conference on Natural Resource Management.
In 2002 a diverse group of experts in Mexican foreign policy, politics, indigenous development, and culture, led by then Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Miguel Marín Bosch, extensively toured New Zealand.
A group of academics from the University of Guadalajara’s Department of Pacific Studies visited Auckland and Wellington in February 2003. Later in 2003 the President of Federated Farmers went to Mexico to speak at a producers’ conference and a delegation representing the Governor of the State of Michoacán came to New Zealand with a programme focused on agriculture and trade. Near the end of 2003, former Secretary of Treasury Graham Scott attended the 5th Global Forum on Reinventing Government in Mexico City.
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. Several New Zealand universities and polytechnics, including Auckland, Otago, AUT, Massey and Weltec have formed relationships with Mexican counterparts, opening up opportunities for student and staff exchanges.
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. Later that year, a leading Mexican economist, Antonio Ortiz, attended a conference at the New Zealand Centre for Latin America Studies at Auckland University. Dr Matthew O’Meagher from the University of Auckland, visited Mexico in 2005 to study New Zealand’s education interests. The first meeting of the Joint Experts Group on the economic relationship was held in New Zealand in June 2005 and the second meeting was held in Mexico City in November 2005.
In March 2006, a delegation of senior representatives from four Crown Research Institutes visited Mexico to establish and consolidate research, science and technology links. Dr Arnulfo Valdivia, International Affairs Coordinator for the State of Mexico visited New Zealand in June 2006 under the Latin America Strategy. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Deputy Secretary, John McKinnon, visited Mexico in July 2006 for foreign policy consultations. Te Papa Chief Executive, Dr Seddon Bennington, visited Mexico in July 2006 to discuss cooperation and possible exhibition exchanges. The Director General of the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Murray Sherwin, also visited Mexico in July 2006 to develop the dialogue with Mexico in the agricultural sector.
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. In June 2007 the Executive Secretary of the Mexican National Women's Institute (INMUJERES) visited New Zealand to discuss the respective countries’ network of women’s refuges and addressing family violence. The Director General of the Mexican National Association of Universities and Tertiary Institutions (ANUIES) visited New Zealand in August 2007 to attend an International Education Conference and meet with New Zealand education providers and policy makers.top of page
New Zealand and Mexico share common interests in many multilateral fora. Mexico is a member of APEC (host in 2002) and has been an active member of PBEC and PECC. It was admitted as a full member of the OECD in April 1994. Mexico has been a member of the GATT since 1986 and was a founding member of the WTO. On occasion, it plays an important role in “bridging the gap” between the developed and developing worlds. In September 2003 Mexico hosted the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Cancun.
Mexico and New Zealand have cooperated closely on disarmament issues for many years, notably over the annual UN Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty resolution. Both are members of the New Agenda group dedicated to making progress on nuclear disarmament issues, and belong to regional Nuclear Weapon Free Zone treaties.
In 2004, Mexico established a Group of Friends of UN Reform to support the work of the Secretary-General and the High Level Panel. New Zealand is a member of the group.
Cooperation is steadily increasing in multilateral human rights forums; New Zealand and Mexico worked closely on the development of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Mexico and New Zealand also share common views on a number of environmental issues including climate change and whales.
Official Name - United Mexican States
Land Area - 1,953,162 sq km
Population - 107.4 million (2006 estimate)
Capital City - Mexico City
Religion - Catholic
Language - Spanish
Currency - Peso
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
Main Political Parties - National Action Party (PAN);
Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD);
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)
GDP - US$840 billion
GDP breakdown - Services 69.4%; Goods 30.6%
GDP per capita - US$7,821
Real GDP growth - 4.8%
Exports - US$250 billion
Imports - US$256.1 billion
Main exports - Manufactured goods;
Maquiladora (in-bond assembly for re-export);
Oil;
Agricultural goods;
Minerals
Current account - -US$1.9 billion
Inflation - 3.6%
Total External debt - US$168.6 billion (2006 estimate)
Source: Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) – 2006 estimates
NZ Exports - NZ$424 million
Main Exports - Milk Powder (31%); Cheese (12%);Sheep or goat meat (10%);Butter (10%) ; Live cattle (9%); Casein (8%);Whey and whey products(7%);Frozen Beef (4%)
NZ Imports - NZ$138 million
Main Imports - Computers (12%);
Beer (10%);
Motor vehicles (8%); Telecommunications apparatus (5%);
Spirits (4%);
Medical or veterinary instruments (3%);
Machinery (3%);
Microphones and their stands (3%)
The area now known as Mexico is thought to have been first inhabited around 20,000 years ago. By the 1540s, much had been brought under Spanish colonial control. During the 1700s some territories that are now part of the US were added (subsequently lost through war in 1848). Independence from Spain was won in 1821, following a war that had begun in 1810.
A period of extended dominance by President Porfirio Diaz, who won six successive terms as President beginning in 1884, provoked the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910. The war lasted for ten years and at its end gave birth to what was to become the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which governed Mexico for 71 uninterrupted years, ending in 2000.
Notable events during this time included land redistribution and the nationalisation of the petroleum industry in the 1930s, the growth of popular resistance to modernization in the 1960s, the 1968 Tlatelolco Square incident, the sudden and severe devaluation of the peso in 1982 and in 1994 Mexico’s entry into force of NAFTA.
The PRI’s hold on the Presidency was broken with the victory of Vicente Fox, representing the National Action Party (PAN), in 2000.
For most of the past 70 years, the government was centralised under a strong President who dominated Congress and had considerable influence over the judiciary. This changed significantly with the inauguration of the Fox administration in December 2000. Since that time, the system has become much more open, fluid, plural and contested than before.
Congress consists of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Senators serve for six years and deputies for three years. Each state is represented by four Senators. In the Chamber of Deputies 300 seats are allocated on the first-past-the-post system and 200 according to proportional representation. The President, elected for a term of 6 years, appoints Ministers of government (“Secretaries”).
The dominant political party has been the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which governed Mexico from 1946 to 2000 (its predecessor was in power from 1929). Other important parties include the centre-right National Action Party (PAN) and the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). The PRI lost its traditional majority in the lower house in elections in July 1997, and lost the presidency in July 2000.
The Fox administration maintained economic and financial stability, and introduced a number of social policies. However, President Fox did not gain a majority in either house of the Congress – the PRI remained the largest party – and this hindered his plans for reforms in many sectors.
Elections for the President and both chambers of Congress were held in July 2006. The contest between the two leading contenders for the Presidency (Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the leftist PRD party and Felipe Calderón Hinojosa of President Fox’s right of centre PAN party) was the closest in Mexico’s history. On 5 September the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Branch of the Federation unanimously ruled that Felipe Calderón Hinojosa had been duly elected President of Mexico for a six-year term from 1 December 2006, with a final margin of 233,831 votes or 0.56% of the total valid votes.
In the Congressional elections the PAN did better than expected, while the PRI was relegated from the largest to the third party. The final results were: Chamber of Deputies, out of 500: PAN 206, PRD 127, PRI 106, Green/Ecological Party 17, Convergence (a member of López Obrador’s coalition) 17, Labour (another coalition member) 12, New Alliance 9, Democratic and Farmer Alternative 5, unaffiliated 1. In the Senate, out of 128: PAN 52, PRD 26, PRI 33, Green/Ecological Party 6, Convergence 5, Labour 5, unaffiliated 1.
President Calderón faces significant challenges to governability, including a narrow mandate, a minority position in Congress and the determined opposition of the PRD. Calderón has set out his five policy priorities for Mexico’s development as improving public security, raising competitiveness and creating jobs, reducing poverty, effective democracy, and a responsible foreign policy. He must now build support in Congress for his legislative agenda. In an early test of the executive’s relations with Congress, the budget was passed with cross-party support and with few amendments. However several necessary structural reforms - in energy supply, trade unions, the labour market and the police - require constitutional changes that call for a two-thirds majority of state legislatures.top of page
Services account for 69% of GDP, manufacturing and mining 20%, construction 6%, and agriculture 4%. A high proportion of manufacturing activity is in the “maquiladora” (assembly) industries, mostly located along the US border.
Manufactured goods, including from maquiladoras, represent 81% of merchandise export earnings. Oil makes up another 16%, agriculture only 3%. Tourism is also an important export earner; in 2006, over 90,000 international visitors provided US$12 billion in revenue to Mexico.
During his term in office (1988-94), President Salinas modernised the economy by opening it up to market forces while reducing the role of the state. There was deregulation in finance, transport and communications and in agriculture, forestry and fishing. Trade liberalisation was consolidated through free-trade pacts, including the 1994 North America Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and foreign investment rules were made more attractive. Around 85% of Mexico’s exports now go to the US.
An increase in exports helped lift the economy out of recession in 1996. The Government’s restrictive policies also succeeded in bringing down inflation from 52% in December 1995 to 3.6% in 2006. The economic recovery broadened and strengthened through to early 2001, just after President Fox’s term began. From then until 2004, the US economic slow-down reduced Mexico’s growth rate to between 0% and 1.4%. Mexico’s macroeconomic indicators remained good, however, with a strong currency, low interest rates, low inflation, moderate unemployment, strong investment inflows and record-high reserves. As a consequence, growth returned to 4.2% by the end of 2004, fell just over one percentage point to 3% in 2005 and averaged 4.8% over 2006. Mexico’s economy, and its long-term prospects for growth, are closely tied to those of the US.
Mexico’s foreign policy is influenced to a great extent by its historical relationship with the US, with which it shares a 3,152 km border. Following the annexation of Texas in 1845 conflict arose between the US and Mexico over the boundary of the new state and war ensued. In consequence the relationship between the two countries has continued to be complex and the issues of illegal migration and drug trafficking have always been vexed ones in bilateral relations. This was further complicated by Mexico’s refusal to join the US-inspired boycott of Cuba in 1961.
The Fox administration took steps to work productively with the US, especially by initiating discussions on the status of Mexican workers in the US. These discussions were put on hold post-September 11 as the US focused its attention on the war against terrorism but the issue arose again recently when the US Senate voted against legislation that would formalise migration flows through the creation of a guest-worker programme.
Under President Fox, Mexico also moved to develop a more activist foreign policy, speaking out against human rights problems in Cuba, and successfully standing for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, 2002-2003. This put Mexico at the forefront of decision-making over the disarmament of Iraq, where it placed emphasis on finding a peaceful solution.
An important strand of the Mexican government's economic policy has been the negotiation of a number of Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with neighbours. As well as NAFTA, free trade agreements have been negotiated with Costa Rica, Bolivia, Venezuela and Colombia (all in 1995), Nicaragua (1998), Chile (1999), Israel (2000), El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala (2001) and Uruguay (2004). Free trade agreements with the European Union and with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) came into force in 2000 and 2001 respectively. Negotiations with Japan were completed in March 2004 and the agreement came into force in 2005. Late in 2003 Mexico decided to put a hold on further negotiations for the time being but signed an economic complementarity agreement with Korea in 2005. In July 2007 Mexico announced it would recommence FTA negotiations with Peru and Korea. Mexico was admitted to APEC in December 1993, and was the host in 2002. In 1994, it joined the OECD.
In recent years there have been high level visits in both directions:
New Zealand Embassy Mexico City
The Safetravel website provides a travel advisory for travellers to Mexico [external link].
