Japan, Mexico pledge to strengthen bilateral relations

Tokyo, Jan 6 (EFE).- The foreign ministers of Japan and Mexico pledged on Friday to “strengthen bilateral relations through people-to-people and academic exchanges and cooperation” in light of “recent shifts in the international arena.”

“Mexico is once again attracting attention as an investment destination from the perspective of rebuilding and enhancing the resilience of the supply chains,” Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a joint press conference after his meeting with Marcelo Ebrard.

Hayashi also highlighted the importance of legal stability for Japanese investment from a medium-to-long-term perspective to which Ebrard responded that Mexico would continue to address this issue while taking Japan’s interests into account, according to a transcript of the presser released by the Japanese foreign ministry.

The two ministers exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine and East Asia, including the response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile activities, as well as the situation in Latin America, and confirmed that they would continue to work together.

On Thursday, Hayashi met Mexico’s Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro, with whom he welcomed the “significant” increase in the volume of trade between the two countries and in the number of Japanese companies in Mexico.

These figures have doubled and quadrupled respectively since the Japan-Mexico Economic Partnership Agreement came into effect in 2005, the Japanese ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

The Japanese minister “expressed his hope that the cooperation between the business communities of the two countries will be re-energized in the era of post Covid-19,” the statement added.

On Jan. 4, Hayashi kicked off an official tour to Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina and the United States.

The tour, his first to Latin America since taking office in November 2021, will conclude on Jan. 15 in New York. EFE

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