Mexico to push ahead on reform

Monday, 27 January 2014 00:10 
BY BRONSON PETTITT
The News


MEXICO CITY – The Mexican government and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) signed an agreement over the weekend to ensure the goals of major reforms passed last year would be met.

During his first year in office, President Enrique Peña Nieto pushed reforms to education, telecommunications, energy and finance laws. Officials say the agreement is meant to ensure secondary laws pending approval do not weaken these reforms. Peña Nieto attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week, where he said the agreement included measures to perform ongoing evaluations of the reforms and their implementation. Five national goals are also mentioned in the agreement, Peña said: to achieve a Mexico that is peaceful, inclusive, prosperous, offers quality education and understands its international responsibility.

With last year’s reforms, Mexico has become the “most attractive investment platform in the world,” said José Ángel Gurría, secretary general of the OECD. The most difficult part is implementing the reforms, Gurría said, so “the powers that be must work toward that change.”

Also during the forum, Cisco Systems, Nestlé and PepsiCo announced planned investments in Mexico worth more than $7 billion.

PepsiCo’s $5 billion investment in Mexico over five years will be used to strengthen its food and beverage business and expand production. The company said the investment was expected to create 4,000 new jobs.

Nestle said it planned to invest $1 billion in Mexico over five years, building two new factories and expanding a third in its sixth-biggest market, to create 700 new jobs.

Cisco said it would invest $1.35 billion in manufacturing operations and a support center this year, which would create 900 jobs.

“It is very encouraging to see the enthusiasm that has been awoken by our country due to the structural changes that are happening,” Peña Nieto said.

Peña also met with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and secretaries from Chile and Peru during the World Economic Forum on Thursday to discuss the Pacific Alliance, a Latin American trade bloc.

The Pacific Alliance “is not just a free trade agreement, it moves beyond that,” he said.

Panel members said the alliance has helped to eliminate visas, create common embassies in countries such as Vietnam and Ghana and promote trade, investment and tourism.