Germany seeks to reduce barriers to trade with Mexico

Germany seeks to increase trade and business opportunities with Mexico, but it is necessary to reduce technical barriers between the two nations, said German businessmen. The general director of Hannover Fairs Mexico, Bernd Rohde, said that the European country wants to strengthen trade relations with Mexico and, therefore, will come in October to officials from the German Ministry of Economy and the German Industry Association.

He said that the Industrial Transformation Mexico (ITM) fair and the annual meetings of the German Mexican Working Group on Quality Infrastructure and Industrialists (RAI) of the Concamin will take place that month. In these spaces will meet experts and representatives of the private sector of both nations, to adopt a work plan towards greater cooperation in quality infrastructure and thus contribute to reducing technical barriers to bilateral trade, he said.

It is estimated that 69 percent of German companies installed in the country, almost two thousand, will maintain or increase their investments this year, thus Germany remains Mexico's first trading partner in the European Union. According to a survey by the German-Mexican Chamber of Commerce (Camexa) conducted at the end of April, 36 percent of member companies announced that they will increase their investments in Mexico this year, 33 percent will maintain them the same as in 2018 and 31 percent will reduce them.

Trade between the two countries reached a volume of 21.7 billion euros in 2018. Germany exported 13.9 billion euros to Mexico, an increase of 7.7 percent, and Mexico sent 7.8 billion euros to that nation, 4.7 percent more than the previous year.

About the fair, Bernd Rohde commented that it will be the first edition of the Hannover Messe in Latin America and this is a reflection of the country's boom in terms of industrial transformation and the innovation environment that live in various regions of Mexico.

The choice of the city of Leon, Guanajuato, as the venue for the first edition is due to the productivity and industrial platform that has the state and the Bajio region, as they meet all that is necessary to be a leader in industrial transformation. In 2018, Mexico was invited by Hannover Messe and became the first Spanish-speaking nation to achieve this distinction. In that year, 172 Mexican exhibiting companies and a national delegation of more than 1,500 people participated.