Brussels, 30/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Monday 30 May, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström and Mexico's Secretary for the Economy Ildefonso Villareal launched negotiations to modernise the EU-Mexico free-trade agreement. The agreement has been in force since 2000 and the first round of technical negotiations to modernise it will be held in June.
“We have a strong economic relationship with Mexico. In 15 years, our trade in goods has increased by over 250% and the EU is the source of 40% of foreign investment in Mexico. But much has changed since 2000. We have grown to 28 and Mexico has become one of the most dynamic emerging economies in the world. So it makes sense that we should modernise our trade agreement”, Malmström stated at a press conference on Monday afternoon.
“We want to remove trade barriers and to be assured that our free-trade agreement is more efficient in order to open our markets. We want this agreement to follow its own path even if, of course, we are inspired by the ambition of the EU-US free-trade negotiations and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on free trade”, Malmström added.
The Council voted unanimously to give the European Commission a mandate to broaden the EU-Mexico free-trade agreement, to deepen its level of openness, to match the ambition the EU has with other partners, going beyond the WTO agreement, and to make sure that trade barriers are removed while having high standards for protecting consumers and the environment, Malmström stated.
The aim is to give companies, especially SMEs, better and more transparent access to public procurement, to have a new system of investment protection, to protect intellectual property rights (including geographical indications), and to have a chapter on sustainable development (labour rights, environmental standards, human rights and anti-corruption), Malmström added.
“We must address new challenges like e-commerce, and encourage SMEs to enter global value chains”, Villareal said. He added that Mexico would assess the EU's proposal for a new investment protection system (the Investment Court System - ICS) “with a positive attitude”. This ICS is aimed at replacing the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism in trade agreements, and is provided for in the recently concluded free-trade agreement with Canada (CETA). “Mexico has a long tradition of investment agreements. Today we have them with 16 of the 28 member states. It is very valuable to give trust and confidence in the business environment in Mexico”, he said.
Neither side has speculated, on the other hand, on how long these negotiations will last. “We have no intention of delaying anything but on the other hand it needs to be a good agreement. We waited a long time to get it updated. So we need to make sure that both our priorities are there and our red lines accepted”, Malmström said, mentioning market access for services and public procurement, the protection of geographical indications, and sanitary and phytosanitary rules as being the EU's main offensive interests.
“We believe there are great areas for a win-win situation to improve this agreement. Mexico's strength in the agro industry is something that is very important. The strength of the EU in the service and financial services sector is highly relevant. I think that there are common interests to expand respective access to markets”, Villareal said.
At their last bilateral meeting in June 2015, the EU and Mexico agreed to move on to negotiations for modernising the comprehensive agreement that was concluded in 1997 and that, since 2000, has governed their political and trade cooperation (see EUROPE 11334). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)