THE FOREIGN SECRETARY CLOSES A SEMINAR ON THE "ECONOMIC OUTLOOK 2013" AT THE ITAM

Foreign Secretary Jose Antonio Meade closed a seminar on the "Economic Outlook 2013: Challenges for the 2012-2018 Presidential Term" tonight at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM); officials from President Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration participated.

STENOGRAPHIC VERSION OF THE REMARKS BY FOREIGN SECRETARY JOSÉ ANTONIO MEADE AT THE CLOSE OF THE SEMINAR ON THE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK 2013 AT THE ITAM

Good evening. As you can see in program, I come after Benito.

I have been in this auditorium in all of the roles he mentioned and I always come with great pleasure. I have come as part of the audience, I have been a speaker, I came in my student days that ended up being very interesting some years later, because everyone we met here, in these classrooms, with these teachers, with these friends, we ended up forging a career together, we ended up as traveling companions, we have had the opportunity to participate in public policy, we have built friendships, we have developed projects together, we have shared experiences and all that we owe to the ITAM.

That explains why Arturo, Erick and Benito are able to invite us all to come on a Friday afternoon and we all come.

And evidence of the esteem and affection we have for our alma mater and of the seriousness with which the ITAM takes this seminar which is already a tradition, is that you are all are here to accompany us.

In appreciation, I will be very brief.

I was asked to give a brief overview of Mexico in the world prior to the closing, focused on the work of the Foreign Ministry at the beginning of President Peña Nieto’s administration.

The truth is that I think the Foreign Ministry is facing an interesting challenge at a very good moment.
Mexico has historically held a privileged place in the world since ancient times.

Samurais arrived in Acapulco 500 years ago; there is a jai alai tournament that is held in Acapulco commemorating the first Basque sailor who landed on American soil more than 475 years ago.

 (inaudible) of the Philippines made a historic journey that even then demonstrated the importance that Mexico would have in international trade.

Throughout Mexico's recent history, especially since NAFTA, Mexico's role in the world took on a significance that we could not have imagined. Just a short while ago, we were remembering that, when the Treaty was signed, well-known economists, practically all of them from the ITAM, were asked how Mexico would be seen in the world twenty years after signing the treaty. The context was that, at that time, Mexico exported about 18 billion dollars a year and people were asked what the impact of the treaty would be measured by exports.

The consensus of the economists is that, after a few years, Mexico could be exporting two, three times more than that was exporting prior to the Treaty. That would place the export figures, in the most aggressive scenario, at about 60 billion dollars a year.

Today, Mexico exports a billion dollars every day, 365 billion dollars, and it imports a very similar amount, which means that Mexico’s importance as a global player, measured by the importance of its international trade, is clear.

This is also true given the size of its economy, the importance of its culture, its importance as a tourist destination.

And the moment we are living today is a phenomenal time to take advantage of all of this; it is a moment in which the Mexican economy as I have already mentioned, has no important imbalance, it is growing well, has strong public finances, shows strength in its banking system, has demonstrated strength in household finance, in corporate finance. It is an ideal time for the Foreign Ministry to act as a platform for economic promotion.

The President outlined five areas of action: he proposed that we work to achieve a peaceful Mexico; an influential Mexico; a Mexico with quality education for all, so that everyone is equally well prepared, as if they studied at the ITAM; a prosperous Mexico that is a responsible global actor.
 
In a certain sense, the important question is, how can the Foreign Ministry contribute to each of these areas?, and I think the Foreign Ministry is ideally positioned to play an important supporting role.
Everybody understands, in the first place, that the economy has become a global phenomenon and that Mexico cares what happens in the rest of the world in economic terms and what happens in the rest of the world matters to Mexico.

And although it is not as clear, it is just as true that virtually all aspects of domestic policy have an international effect and this international effect can happen in different ways: there can be an international effect from identifying best practices and bringing them to the country; there can be an international effect, and there is on a daily basis because of Mexico’s size, on the creativity and importance of its public policy, where what is being done in Mexico is the best practice and it is exported to the rest of the world.

But above all, many of the policy decisions today are debated in international forums that have binding authority in rulings, so practically any decision taken here today can be attacked abroad, and this means that it is very important for the Foreign Ministry to support all domestic policy and this is an important area of opportunity.

We can enrich our decision-making, we can promote the decisions taken and we can defend the decisions being adopted in the interest of creating a consensus, not only domestically but also internationally.

In addition to supporting domestic policy, the Foreign Ministry also has a clear competitive advantage in terms of promotion. No other government agency is designed as a promotional network, or to have the network the Foreign Ministry has. This ideally positions it to distribute information and this information is of various types, in some cases it may be cultural, so that what Mexico has brought the world can be appreciated; or about tourism or on economic promotion.

But the Foreign Ministry’s network makes it well positioned so that this information can receive as much exposure in the world as possible.

Clearly, the work that people are most aware of is the Foreign Ministry’s role in assisting Mexican citizens. This work is increasingly complex and varied and includes assistance as it relates to migration but it also includes defense, for example, of the interests of Mexican multinationals in places where the rule of law is not respected to the same degree as it is in Mexico, or support for an investment economy in a business sense that transcends Mexico’s borders. This is more important today than it has been in the past in that Mexico’s investments abroad are more important now than they have been in the past.

Just to put it in perspective, sometimes the distance between Mexico and Latin America is spoken of in terms of foreign policy. Mexico has more or less 30 billion dollars invested in Brazil, which means that we compare favorably with what China has invested in Brazil. That means that, measured in terms of its interests abroad, Mexico is important and needs strong support in defense of these interests.

Lastly, there is the diplomatic work itself, which requires us to define an agenda with a world that offers different challenges in each of its regions: a very clear agenda with North America, the most important because of our geographic location; a day-to-day agenda with Central America that poses all kinds of challenges: we cannot aspire to a dynamic and prosperous Mexico if Central America is not prosperous and dynamic as well; ongoing support for and interest in Latin America, but with the very clear need to establish an outreach strategy for Africa, which in the next twelve years can become a high-growth region; a strategy for closer relations with the Middle East, where there is interest not only in energy, but also in science and technology, research and development, culture and education; a clearer strategy with countries that today are of great importance and that will be even more important in the future such as India and China, which challenge Mexico’s diplomacy to find the best way to create ties with all of these regions.

To summarize, the Foreign Ministry must make it its work to defend public policy; it's up to the Foreign Ministry to spread information developed in Mexico and that the world should know about and also to bring information to Mexico; it also has the task of addressing Mexico’s interests abroad and of defining how we should relate to the various regions of the world.

And, making good on my promise to be brief this Friday night, I would ask you all to stand up—I would appreciate your attention—and I declare closed the Seminar on the Economic Outlook 2013: Challenges for the 2012-2018 Presidential Term at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México in the understanding that the panorama is a good one and the country’s prospects are even better.

Thank you.