MEXICO AND KOREA TO ASSESS THE PROGRESS OF THE ECONOMIC AND COOPERATIVE ASPECTS OF THEIR BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP AS STRATEGIC PARTNERS 

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of their diplomatic relations, the seventh meeting of the Mexico-Korea Joint Commission for Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation will be held on Monday in Mexico City. The meeting will be chaired by Ambassador Rogelio Granguillhome, Executive Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation, and Mr. Lee Si-hyung, Vice Minister of the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

During the meeting, the economic relationship and bilateral cooperation will be reviewed and ways to strengthen them discussed. Ongoing cooperation in science and technology will be evaluated, as well as triangular cooperation with Mesoamerica.

The meeting is very important, given that Mexico and Korea share the same positions on important global issues such as climate change and development cooperation. This was evident at the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness that was held in Busan, Korea in November 2011 and in the G20 Development Working Group.

Korea is a strategic partner for Mexico. In 2011, Korea was Mexico’s sixth largest trading partner globally (its 17th –largest purchaser and 4th –largest supplier). Trade between Mexico and Korea has grown 306%, from 3.7 billion dollars in 2001 to 15.185 billion dollars in 2011.

Korea buys mostly raw materials such as lead, zinc and copper and consumer goods such as passenger vehicles from Mexico. There is a large potential to increase trade between the two countries.