Mexico wants to deepen economic ties with China by increasing its exports and attracting more investment from the Asian country, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Saturday ahead of a visit to Beijing.
Ebrard was speaking to reporters via a video link from the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, where he said that talks with other government officials had demonstrated there was growing interest in boosting trade and investment with Mexico.
This was "very clear" in the case of China, where Ebrard said he would be giving priority to expanding business ties during his visit there at the start of next week.
"What we're interested in," he said, "is increasing Mexico's presence in China, Mexico's capacity to export to China. And China's investments in Mexico." Ebrard was representing Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the summit, who in a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he could not attend because there were "urgent" matters requiring his attention in Mexico.
Ebrard is due to speak to media on Tuesday in China, which exports much more to Mexico than vice versa.
Last year, according to Mexican economy ministry data, Mexico imported $83.5 billion worth of goods from China, while its exports to China were worth $7.4 billion. Mexico sends around 80% of its exports to the United States, and is eager to sell more to other countries to reduce its economic dependence on its neighbor.