We want to strengthen our political dialogue with India: Mexican minister

Deputy Foreign Minister of Mexico Julian Ventura Valero is currently on a visit to India

Deputy Foreign Minister of Mexico Julian Ventura Valero, currently on a visit to New Delhi for India and Mexico foreign office consultations, tells Archis Mohan that the two countries need to look beyond their current uptick in bilateral trade to add more strategic aspects to the relationship, particularly in aerospace. Edited excerpts:

The new Mexican president has taken office recently (December). Do you anticipate any departures in Mexico-India relations?
 

Objectives are the same. We want to strengthen our political dialogue and collaboration. We want to increase the two-way trade and investment, with heightened emphasis on innovation. A Mexico-India innovation forum was held on Wednesday at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, to look at how we can drive the information technology (IT) and innovation agenda forward, everything from fintech, start-ups, business incubation — all those areas where India has a particularly strong vanguard role.

We had productive meetings here, and a good chance to review how the relationship is doing, now that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a new mandate and the new Mexican president (Andrés Manuel López Obrador) is starting his six-year term. It is a good opportunity to establish priorities and see where we are.

On trade, 2018 saw Mexico become India’s largest trading partner from Latin America. What is the trajectory ever since?
 

There is an upward trajectory. We have now surpassed the $10 billion mark, but it is a figure below its potential even though it’s showing sustained growth. We are optimistic there are opportunities in our respective markets. We will work towards enhanced access for Mexican agrofood products in the Indian market. India has significantly increased its imports of agrofood products in the last five-six years.

Mexican global players are increasing their presence in the Indian economy as investors. We have Cinepolis, whose targeted objective is to have 500 screens in India in the near term. They have about close to 300 now. It is the third-largest cinema operator in India. Global food companies like Grupo Bimbo also have production facilities. These are two examples we need to multiply.

One of the things that came up in the meetings was opportunities for Mexican companies in infrastructure development in India. We are not present in the sector. We have capacities related to highway construction, where our companies could do very well. There are opportunities in manufacturing as well for Mexico in India and for India in Mexico. Mexico is not only important because of its market but also for its free trade access to about 50 countries.

“India and Mexico are attractive destinations for investments because of our regional and national dimensions, and regardless of what is going on in other places in terms of US-China tensions”

Much of India’s imports from Mexico comprise crude oil. Do you see more potential, given India’s geopolitical compulsions and energy needs?
 

There is a potential vis-à-vis India’s energy need, and there are limitations, as Mexico is not a large energy exporter. We need to increase our production through greater exploration. While oil will likely remain, in the short term and medium term, an important component of our trade profile, we need to look at additional opportunities in terms of manufacturing, electric mobility, the aerospace sector —which are showing growth trajectories independent of oil in the equation.

We want to address what is on the trade agenda right now, but we need to look at the long-term aspect of our economic relationship from a strategic perspective. Aerospace, electric mobility, IT, digital finances are those new areas that have the potential of becoming significant components of our trade relationship. May be they are not as visible now, but we need to start working now (on these).

During Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Mexico in 2016, the two countries had decided to take the relationship to the level of ‘strategic partnership’.
 

That is the next step. One of the issues that we discussed are the road maps that our (respective) foreign ministries have been charged with to develop — stemming from the communiqué (of 2016), stemming from the meetings between our foreign ministers in Osaka (on the sidelines of the G20 Summit) in early July. Hopefully next year at the highest political level, such a recommendation can be completed.

I understand the Mexican president has imposed a one-year moratorium on any foreign visits, but could there be one to India next year?
 

I cannot affirm there is a clear possibility in the short-term, but what I can affirm is that we are working towards direct contact between the prime minister and president at the first possible opportunity. We need to have that kind of interaction. It does not necessarily mean the president would be here as early as next year, (but) it is a relationship that is acquiring a critical mass that is necessary to add a strategic dimension to it.

Some observers have said US-China trade tensions could offer opportunities to countries like India and Mexico.
 

India and Mexico are attractive destinations for investments in their own right because of our regional and national dimensions, and regardless of what is going on in other places in terms of US-China tensions. While there might be some short-term gains for countries like Mexico and India, this situation — the uncertainty and permanent frictions — whether in that particular axis or in general that we have seen in the global economy, is not good for the global picture in the medium and the long term. That is why India and Mexico have placed such importance on the defence of the rules-based international system, including in the World Trade Organization, with all its limitations. We want to strengthen the rules-based system and mix of confrontation with uncertainty is not helpful to the global picture as a whole.

What is the status of the political dialogue?
 

We exchanged views on our perspectives on North and Latin America, India’s take on developments in Asia, on G20 Summits. We are both slated to be in the UN Security Council (UNSC) at the same time. The elections are in next June. We have both been endorsed in our respective regional groups. We discussed the African agenda, the PKO (UN peacekeeping) operations status agenda, things that are useful in the UNSC context and also discussed several multilateral issues, like climate change.