Iran’s Ambassador to Mexico Alireza Ghazili says economic laws and regulations of Mexico are a major hurdle in way of Iran’s trade with this country and sanctions are considered a major obstacle because Iran cannot strengthen its trade and economic relations with Mexico with the current banking mechanism which obeys Mexico’s regulations.
Speaking in a webinar on reviewing trade capacities between Iran and Latin America, Ghazili said that currently there are good transportation infrastructures in Mexico, adding that Mexico has 125 active ports and 65 airports that 53 airports are international and neighboring with the U.S. is one of the important advantages of this country that can be very effective in the economic fields.
Pointing to the trade exchanges between Mexico and the U.S., he said last year 5m trucks from 50 border checkpoints plied between Mexico and the U.S. and there is strong trade exchange between the two states.
Gharizi added that Mexico is currently among the top 15 world economies, noting that Mexico is the second biggest economy after Brazil in the Latin America and agriculture accounts for 4.1%, industries for 30.7% and services for 65% of Mexico’s GDP.
Pointing to the foreign investment in Mexico, he said that foreign investment in Mexico is around $25b annually and the foreign investment in the country between 1999 and 2021 was around $600b as the U.S. with $281b leads the investors in Mexico.
Gharizi said that Mexico has free trade agreements with 50 countries and it has free trade agreements with 23 countries. He reiterated that Mexico’s economy is export-centered and 90% of Mexico’s exports are done based on the free trade and the U.S. and Canada are the major trade partners of this country.
Speaking on the trade opportunities for cooperation between Iran and Mexico, Gharizi said that since Mexico market has access to the regional markets, the U.S. and Canada, it can be a good opportunity for increasing and strengthening economic ties between Iran and Mexico. He added that abundant workforce, vast resources and mines in Mexico are of the major advantages and properties of Mexico market.
He added that Mexico was 8th agro product exporter in 2020 and it has been above countries like India and Argentina with exporting agro products worth $41b and the country has been one of the leading meat exporters and Iran can take advantage of the livestock and agro capacities of Mexico because all of these products have halal marks.
Gharizi went on to say that one of the major economic challenges of Mexico in way of Iran’s trade with this country is the market-oriented economic regulations of Mexico and this is considered a challenge for Iran which is under the cruel sanctions because Iran cannot strengthen its economic relations with Mexico with the current banking mechanism.
He went on to say that long distance between Iran and Mexico, lack of information about the economic capacities of the two countries, lack of shipping line and lack of proper marketing are of the major challenges ahead of developing the trade relation between Iran and Mexico.
He pointed to the low trade volume of economic relations between Iran and Mexico, saying that while long distance issue is considered a challenge for broadening economic relations with Mexico, Iran’s trade with Brazil has been around $5b and major basic commodities have been imported from Brazil and this has questioned the issue of long distance how Iran can have such a trade with Brazil while failing to have such a trade with Mexico.
Ghazili also criticized lack of shipping line between Iran and Mexico and said while Iran is under sanction, it has shipping line with Brazil but it has been unable to have it with Mexico.
