Mexico, Panama sign trade accord

Friday, 04 April 2014 00:10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

thenews.com.mx

Pact expected to boost investment as it lifts small businesses

THE NEWS

President Enrique Peña Nieto and his Panamanian counterpart signed a free-trade accord Thursday. which is expected to open new opportunities for the private sector in Mexico, and especially for small- and medium-sized businesses.

“This free trade agreement with Panama will increase not only the flow of commerce between the two countries but also of investment,” said Francisco J. Funtanet Mange, president of the Mexican Confederation of Industrial Chambers of Commerce (Concamin).

The formal signing took place in Panama City during the Latin American World Economic Forum.

Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli noted that the formal bilateral agreement fulfills a prerequisite for his country to join Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Chile and soon Costa Rica in the Pacific Alliance free-trade area.

“Signing this trade agreement brings us closer to our wish to be part of the Pacific Alliance,” Martinelli said. The Reuters news agency quoted a senior Mexican official as saying that Panama is expected to join the Pacific Alliance this year.

Among current Mexican exports to Panama are medications, automobiles, televisions and steel rods.

Concamin’s Funtanet Mange pointed out that Panama is already Mexico’s eleventh most important trade partner among Latin American nations, while Mexico is the third most-important for Panama. Two-way trade totaled $1.064 billion last year.

“Without a doubt those figure will be widely increased once the productive sectors in both countries can start taking advantage of this commercial opening,” Funtanet said. “It will be easier to move people, goods and capital into both countries.”

He said the agreement presents an especially welcome alternative for Mexico’s small- and medium-sized businesses, which have not been able to make any significant inroads into the U.S. market.

Tourism leaders are also upbeat about the accord with Panama. Tourism Secretary Claudia Ruiz Massieu and her Panamanian counterpart Ernesto Orillac signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday aimed at “developing and strengthening the cooperation between the two countries in tourism matters, aware that tourism is a fundamental factor in the economic development of both nations.”