Peña welcomes foreign investors

Friday, 11 October 2013 01:10 
BY CIRCE VARGÓN
The News
thenews.com.mx


Mexico has received $24 billion in foreign direct investment in the first half of 2013, President Enrique Peña Nieto said on Thursday, adding that this is a historic advance on the investment levels in recent years.

Peña Nieto’s comments were made at the inauguration of a Chrysler assembly plant in Saltillo, Coahuila. Chrysler will invest $249 million in the country in the coming years, he said, adding that Mexico is now the eighth-largest vehicle producer in the world, as well as the fourth-largest exporter of vehicles and fifth-largest auto parts producer.

Mexico “has an enormous potential in many fields to expand our ability for development and growth,” Peña Nieto said. “Today we’re doing it in the auto industry, but there are many other fields where Mexico doubtlessly has great potential.”

Peña Nieto added that Mexico is projecting itself as a key economic player on the world stage through the creation of quality products “that are marked by Mexican handiwork and make it possible for the country to be better recognized in the world.” He added that free trade provides many economic benefits for Mexico, as two thirds of GDP is connected to foreign trade.

Those who view us from abroad, he said, are closely watching Mexico’s performance. “We’ve decided to neither remain passive and stay where we are nor manage synergies, but to take a step forward, move Mexico, change people’s awareness, break the molds and dare to change, conscious of the resistance that these changes can bring with them.”

Peña Nieto said that he aims to achieve this transformation through proposed financial, energy and economic reforms — along with already-approved eduction and telecommunications reforms — which he said “are providing a better framework for the country’s development.”

“These are reforms that people have been demanding for years, and now, in this climate of political civility and agreement, in this plural and democratic country, consensus is being created to do what the country needs and demands so that we won’t be left behind by the world,” Peña Nieto said.