CCIEE and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations Hold Virtual Meeting On the evening of July 27th, CCIEE and the Mexican Councial on Foreign Relations (COMEXI) held a virtual meeting on topics of “China’s OFDI in Latin America and Mexico 2000-2020”

On the evening of July 27th, CCIEE and the Mexican Councial on Foreign Relations (COMEXI) held a virtual meeting on topics of “China’s OFDI in Latin America and Mexico 2000-2020”, “Mexico’s Foreign Trade with Latin American Countries and the World”, and “The Progress of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement”. Wang Yiming, Vice Chairman of CCIEE, delivered a speech, and Xu Chaoyou, Head of CCIEE’s International Exchanges and Cooperation Department, hosted the meeting.

Wang Yiming briefed on the current global and Chinese economic situation, and indicated that the global economy has accelerated its recovery thanks to strong fiscal and monetary policy, accelerated vaccine supply and sustained increase in vaccination rates against the huge impact of COVID-19 pandemic last year, but still shows a “dual-track” situation, with developed economies recovering strongly and emerging economies lagging behind. The rise in global inflation has led emerging economies to hike interest rates in response to rising prices and capital outflow pressures. China’s economy continues to recover, with the growth gradually returning to potential growth levels. It is expected to achieve an 8.5% growth for the year, but the recovery is uneven and the return to normal is still challenging.

Wang pointed out that as emerging economies face challenges in economic recovery, China and Mexico need to strengthen cooperation all the more, especially as the two sides enjoy huge potential for economic, trade and investment cooperation. To this end, both sides should enhance mutual trust, seize the opportunity of the global economic rebound after the pandemic, give full play to their respective industrial and resource advantages, expand economic and trade cooperation, and explore pragmatic cooperation in industry, energy, infrastructure, special zone construction, telecommunications, finance and other fields. It is necessary to strengthen cooperation in multilateral fields, and maintain close ties on important issues such as global governance, implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Asia-Pacific Free Trade Agreement, so as to jointly promote the economic globalization and trade liberalization.

Participants from both sides agreed that under the lasting impact of the pandemic and sluggish recovery of the global economy, intensified cooperation between China and Mexico in economy, trade and investment will not only speed up the recovery of the two economies, but also play a positive role in curbing the global economic downturn and international trade shrinking. Looking to the future, both sides should expand the areas of economic and trade cooperation by consolidating trade in traditional areas such as energy, raw materials and agricultural products, and strengthening practical cooperation in infrastructure, manufacturing, communications and medicine. Actions should be encouraged in developing tourism and industry and supply chains cooperation, and promoting trade and investment diversification, aiming to push forward the China-Mexico comprehensive strategic partnership. Think tank exchanges have a unique and important role in boosting China-Mexico economic and trade relations. Both sides reached consensus to further enhance exchanges and cooperation and contribute wisdom and strength to China-Mexico relations.

Attending the virtual meeting included Zhang Yongjun, CCIEE’s Deputy Chief Economist, Zhang Monan, Principal Researcher of CCIEE’s Institute for American and European Studies, José Luis Bernal, Mexican Ambassador to China, Sergio Alcocer, President of COMEXI and Jorge Millán, expert of COMEXI, and Enrique Dussel Peters, Professor of National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).