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Statement by the Republic of Korea on the 4
thTrade Policy Review of Mexico
(10:00, Wednesday, 17 April 2013, WTO)
1. Thank you, Madame Chair. Buenos Dias! We would like to join previous speakers in extending a warm welcome to the delegation of Mexico led by Vice Minister Francisco de ROSENZWEIG. We would also like to thank the Secretariat for its comprehensive report as well as the discussant, Ambassador François Riegert for his valuable remarks.
2. First of all, we are pleased to note that the bilateral economic relationship between Korea and Mexico has seen a substantial increase. Since we have gone beyond the 10 billion dollars milestone in 2010, we are encouraged by the fact that our bilateral trade has continued to grow to 11.6 billion dollars in 2012. As of 2012, Korea stands as Mexico’s 4th largest importing country and 15th largest exporting destination, whole Mexico is positioned as Korea’s 14th largest exporting country. On the investment front, Korean investment in Mexico reached 1.5 billion USD and Mexico’s investment in Korea amounts to 4.8 million USD. What is encouraging is the reality of the growing trends of each other’s investments as both Korean and Mexican firms move forward to forge strategic economic ties. Thus, we are confident that this strong and vibrant economic partnership will continue to deepen in the years to come.
3. As the Secretariat’s report notes, we would like to highlight Mexico’s success in overcoming the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. Mexico has achieved this through the implementation of countercyclical fiscal and monetary policies. In addition, since Mexico came out of the recession in 2010, it has shown solid growth rates of 5.6% in 2010, 3.9% in 2011, and, again, 4.2% in the first three quarters of 2012. Acknowledging the gravity of lingering economic challenges both regionally and globally, we cannot but commend Mexico’s efforts and performance in this regard.
4 It is against this backdrop that we would like to underline that Mexico
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has taken several effective trade polices during the period under review in order to enhance its competitiveness. To name a few, Mexico streamlined custom procedures under the Trade Facilitation Decree of 2008 and the Custom Modernization Programme 2007-2012, and established a single window for foreign trade operations. Importantly, in 2009 Mexico reduced its tariff rates to the extent that 58.3% of Mexico’s tariff lines became duty free. Mexico has also reduced the use of anti-dumping measures during the period under review. While appreciating the positive developments, we also find it noteworthy that Mexico continues to be an active user of anti-dumping measures. By June 2012, Mexico had 38 anti-dumping measures in force.
5. Turning to the area of regional trade agreements, Mexico has continued to expand its network of preferential trade agreements during the period under review. As of September 2012, Mexico had 12 FTAs, including NAFTA and agreements with EU and EFTA. Also, since October 2012, Mexico has been formally involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP) negotiations. As the Secretariat indicated, it is noteworthy that most of Mexico’s trade, more specifically, (81.3% of its total trade in 2011) is with countries with which it has a preferential trade agreement. Considering all of this, we hope that our two countries will take forward the stalled FTA negotiations in due course, thereby further strengthening our close economic and trade ties.
6. Madame. Chair, we would like to take this opportunity to mention that Mexico has actively participated in the DDA negotiations as well as the refining of the WTO’s disciplines to ensure the overall effectiveness and usefulness of the multilateral trading system. As the Secretariat pointed out, Mexico has submitted a number of proposals individually or jointly with other WTO members.
We welcome Mexico’s efforts as well as its achievements as a responsible and competent partner of the international trading system.
7. We have submitted advance written questions which address Korea’s interests and concerns on issues such as tax reform, telecommunication services, and trade related measures including the abolishment of the estimated price mechanism, the lifting of the permit requirement for used vehicles, and allowing the participation of foreign bidders only from countries with trade agreements which contain government procurement sections. In this regard, we thank the
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Mexican delegation for providing answers to our questions which we are carefully reviewing.
8. In conclusion, we express our appreciation to the Mexican delegation and Ambassador Fernando MATEO for their hard work in preparing for today’s meeting, and wish them all a very successful TPR.
Thank you. /End/
