(As on 31 July 2023)

INDIA-MEXICO - BILATERAL BRIEF

       India and Mexico (officially called United Mexican States) have striking similarities in geo-climatic conditions, biodiversity, cultural and family values. Both are heirs to a great civilizational heritage and contacts between them go back to centuries. Legend has it that an Indian princess ‘Meera’ landed in Mexico in the 17th century and is well-known here as ‘La China Poblana’. Among Mexicans, there is widespread general awareness, high interest and regard for Indian culture, social values, and pluralistic democracy. India’s achievements in economic, educational, scientific & technological fields are greatly admired in Mexico. Gandhiji’s statues and busts adorn some major Mexican cities like Mexico City, Guadalajara, Acapulco, Guanajuato, Cancun, and San Luis Potosi.

History and Background

2.     Mexico was the first country in Latin America to establish diplomatic relations with Independent India in 1950. In the year 2020, India and Mexico commemorated 70^th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations. Several virtual events were held on this occasion to reinforce the strong bilateral relationship. India has three Honorary Consulates in Mexico in Guadalajara, Monterrey & Cancun. Mexican wheat varieties, especially Sonora wheat, used in Indo-Mexican hybrids were the backbone of India´s Green Revolution in the sixties. The writings of Nobel-laureate and Indophile Octavio Paz, who was Mexican Ambassador to India, on his long experiences in India have had a profound impact in Mexico.

Political

3.     The bilateral relationship has long been characterized by warmth, friendship, and commonality of views on a wide range of issues. During the cold war years, Mexico and India worked together closely as members of the UN, G-77, G-15, and G-6 (nuclear disarmament), both actively championing the interests of developing countries such as in the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations. Till the mid-eighties, the two countries exchanged as many as eight visits at the level of Head of State and Government which epitomized the ties.

A list of VVIP visits is as below:

4.     There have also been several visits at Ministerial and other high levels as listed below:

From the Indian side, EAM Dr S Jaishankar paid an official visit to Mexico from 26-28 September 2021. During the visit EAM held bilateral discussions with Foreign Minister of Mexico, H.E. Mr. Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón. He also called on the President of Mexico, H.E. Mr. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO). The last visit of EAM prior to this was by Shri PV Narasimha Rao in 1980.

5.   Shri Dharmendra Pradhan MoS (I/C) for P&NG (May 2015); (Retd.) Gen. Shri V.K Singh, MoS (EA) (November 2016); Shri Kiren Rijiju, MoS for Home Affairs (May 2017); Shri Sanjay Dhotre, MoS, MHRD (December 2019); Shri Om Birla, Hon’ble Speaker of Lok Sabha (August-September 2022), Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, MoS Culture & Parliamentary Affairs (September-October 2022), Shri Brajesh Pathak, Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (December 2022) visited Mexico.

6.     From the Mexican side, Mr Jose Antonio Meade Kuribreña, Foreign Minister (October 2014, for JCM); Mr. Juan José Guerra Abud, Minister of Environment & Natural Resources (February 2015), Ms Claudia Ruiz Massieu, Foreign Minister (March 2016), Parliamentary delegation headed by Senator Teofilo Torres Corzo, President of the Asia-Pacific Commission on Foreign Relations (March 2017), Ms Maria Guadalupe Murguia Gutierrez, President of the Chamber of Deputies, (August 2017), Ms. Gabriela Cuevas Barrón, Mexican Senator and President, IPU (December 2018), and Ms. Rocio Nahle, Minister of Energy of Mexico (February 2019 & February 2020) visited India. Mr. Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, Foreign Minister of Mexico, visited India from 28 March-1 April, 2022. EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar held a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Bali, Indonesia on 7 July 2022 with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Mr. Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon. EAM met with FM Ebrard in New York in September 2022, on the sidelines of UNGA and UNSC sessions. Mr. Marcelo Ebrard, Foreign Minister of Mexico visited India from 28^th February-7th March, 2023 for G20 FMM. He also had bilateral meetings with EAM Dr. S Jaishankar, Minister of Health & Family Welfare Shri Mansukh Mandaviya and Minister of State for Science & Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh. Hon’ble Governor of the State of Nuevo Leon in Mexico Mr. Samuel Alejandro Garcia Sepulveda along with Minister of Economy for the State of Nuevo Leon Mr. Ivan Rivas travelled to India to take part in CII India-LAC conclave from 2-4th August, 2023.

7.     Hon'ble Minister of Labour and Employment of India, Shri Bhupender Yadav, held a bilateral meeting with Minister of Labour and Social welfare of Mexico, Ms. Luisa Maria Alcalde Lujan at Geneva on the sidelines of 111st Session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) of International Labour Organization (ILO) in June 2023.

Parliamentary Exchanges

8.     The then Hon’ble Speaker of India during his visit to Mexico in May 2001 had proposed that a Parliamentary Friendship Group (PFG) be established by the two Parliaments. This was done by Mexico in 2001 itself. In India, the PFG with Mexico was first constituted in 2006 and reconstituted in 2011. The PFG in Mexico was freshly reconstituted in September 2019 and formally inaugurated on 07 November 2019. After the elections for the renewal of Chamber of Deputies held in June 2021, a new India-Mexico PFG has been established at the Lower House (Chamber of Deputies) of the Mexican Parliament, which was inaugurated on 23 March 2022. An organic India-Mexico Friendship Garden was established through a Public-Private Partnership with the support of the Indian Company United Phosphorus Limited (UPL) at the premises of the Mexican Parliament. It was inaugurated during the visit of Hon’ble Speaker of Lok Sabha, Shri Om Birla’s visit to Mexico in September 2022.

9.     India and Mexico have exchanged regular visits by Parliamentarians over the years. A multi-party 11 member Parliamentary delegation from Mexico headed by Deputy Salvador Caro Cabrera, President of the India-Mexico Parliamentary Friendship Group, visited India from 14^th March-21st March, 2023. They called on Hon’ble Speaker of Lok Sabha Shri Om Birla and also met Hon’ble President of India Smt Droupadi Murmu. Before this visit, a 3-member delegation of Federal Deputies led by the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Ms Maria Guadalupe Murguia Gutierrez visited India in August 2017 followed by the visit of Mrs. Gabriela Cuevas, the President of Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) and Mexican Member of Parliament in December 2018. A 5-member group of Mexican delegates which included 3 Parliamentarians visited India as part of the 8^th Gen-Next Democracy Network Program from 6^th March-16th March 2023.

10.  The last Parliamentary visit from India was led by Hon'ble Lok Sabha Speaker, H.E. Shri Om Birla, from 31^st August to 2^nd September 2022. They held a Bilateral Meeting at the Chamber of Deputies, with the President H.E Mr. Santiago Creel and the President of the Parliamentary Friendship Group India-Mexico, H.E. Mr. Salvador Caro Cabrera. The Hon’ble Speaker also inaugurated an Organic India-Mexico Friendship Garden at the Chamber of Deputies, as well as a bust of Dr. Pandurang Khankhoje and a statue of Swami Vivekanand at two eminent universities in Mexico.

11.   Hon. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Culture Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal visited Mexico from 28-30 September 2022 for attending UNESCO’s MONDIACULT.

Economic and Commercial

12.   Bilateral Trade: An outstanding feature of our current engagement is the sharp spurt in our bilateral trade and investment in recent years. With a trade of USD 10.1 billion, India was Mexico’s tenth largest trading partner in 2021. In 2019 the trade contracted by 8.17% reaching the figure of US$ 9.32 billion with Indian imports of US$ 4.14 billion and exports of US$ 5.18 billion (data from Mexican Ministry of Economy). Due to the ravages caused by the global pandemic, trade figures witnessed a decline in the year 2020 with total trade at US $ 6.9 billion. However, the bilateral trade in 2021 has bounced back to the pre-Covid levels with Indian imports of US$ 4.17 billion and exports of US$ 5.93 billion. In the trade basket from Indian side, the most important items of export are automobiles and auto parts and pharmaceuticals products. From Mexican side, most important item is crude oil. Crude oil also occupies 75% of export basket from Mexico. India is Mexico’s third largest market globally.

A new Trade & Commerce Council of India and Mexico (INDMEX) was launched by Hon’ble Foreign Minister of Mexico Mr. Marcelo Ebrard in December 2022 at the premises of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.

13.   Investments: Indian companies see Mexico as a major investment destination with access to NAFTA (now USMCA) and Latin America. Several Indian companies have already invested in Mexico in recent years. The three strongest performing areas for Indian investments in Mexico are information technology, pharmaceutical and automotive sectors. Almost all major Indian IT and ICT companies (TCS, HCL, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, NIIT, Aptech, Hexaware, Wipro, BirlaSoft, etc.) have operations in Mexico. Several Indian pharmaceutical firms (Lupin, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Zydus, Claris, Life Sciences, Hetero Drugs, Sun Pharma, and Solara) have investments and operations in Mexico. In food processing sector, Parle-G is successfully running its only manufacturing plant in all of Americas in Mexico. Sakthi group is investing in the auto parts sector in Durango. Motherson Technical Precision Mexico has 15 plants in Mexico and announced an investment of 640 million pesos in January 2021. Overall, Indian investments in Mexico are far greater than the other way around. India’s investments in Mexico are around US $ 3 billion. Presently, over 200 Indian companies have presence in Mexico. Hero Motocorp, the largest two-wheeler maker of India also announced its plan to begin operations in Mexico after entering into a distribution agreement with Grupo Salinas in January 2021. Oyo Rooms entered the market of Mexico in 2019 and has continued to grow its operations. Recently, Flex Americas, a subsidiary of UFLEX Ltd. announced expansion of their operations with an investment of 100 million USD in the north of Mexico. Indian company UPL Ltd also announced an investment of USD 11 million in a new Research & Development Centre and manufacturing plant in Saltillo, Mexico.

14.  From the Mexican side, 17 major companies have presence in India. Leading Mexican companies like Nemak, Metalsa, Mexichem, Great Foods & Beverages, RuhrPumpen, Cinepolis and Kidzania have invested in India in recent times. Mexican IT company Softtek became the first Latin American company to have a presence in India as service provider. Bimbo Group has made an investment acquiring a major stake in Harvest Gold and Ready Roti brand. Cinepolis has opened over 350 screens all over India penetrating tier 2 cities as well. The total investment of Mexican companies in India is approximately USD 810 Million as opposed to Indian investment in Mexico of ~USD 3 billion.

Science and Technology

15.   An umbrella bilateral agreement for S&T cooperation was signed in 1975 and cooperation activities are carried out through three-yearly programmes of cooperation under its framework. There is active bilateral S&T cooperation, with projects in several areas of mutual interest like seismology, material science, agricultural waste management, atmospheric sciences, and advanced applied physics.

16.  During the bilateral meeting of FM Ebrard with EAM Dr, Jaishankar and Minister of S&T during his visit in March-April 2022, the Mexican side has proposed to create an Accelerator Fund for supporting Joint Science, Technology and Innovation Projects with India. It was created as part of an MoU signed between India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID) during the visit of FM Ebrard in March 2023. The MoU also focusses on expanding the programs of cooperation and exchange, particularly in areas of research, technological development and innovation in priority areas of hydraulics, electromobility and low cost vaccines. An India-Mexico Research Consortium (IMRC) was launched in January 2023 with participation of researchers and academicians from all over Mexico.

Traditional Medicines System

17.   Bilateral cooperation was initiated in traditional medicine with the signing of a letter of intent for cooperation on 15 October 2012 between GOI’s Department of AYUSH and Mexico’s Ministry of Health. During the meeting of Foreign Minister of Mexico, Mr. Marcelo Ebrard with the Minister of AYUSH on 1 April 2022, it was agreed to establish chairs of traditional medicines in different Universities/ Institutions of Mexico. An MoU establishing one such chair in Ayurveda in the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon was signed between the Ministry of AYUSH and the University on 22 April during the Global Ayush Investment and Innovation Summit 2022 held in Gujarat in the presence of PM Narendra Modi. Work is underway on the establishment of chairs in other institutions like UNAM and the National Autonomous University of Hidalgo.

Education and Technical Cooperation

18.   ITEC program was extended to Mexico in 1991 and currently 35 training slots are available to Mexican participants annually. Under the bilateral academic exchange program, 4 scholarships are offered to Mexican students every year while Mexico makes available up to 6 scholarships to Indian students at any given point of time. The scholarships are for pursuing various undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programmes. A slot is also offered to Mexican diplomats for training at the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service Institute (SSIFS) of the Ministry of External Affairs once in two years. SSIFS conducted a fully funded special training course for 30 young Mexican diplomats from 5-16 September, 2022. A MoU on academic co-operation was signed between National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and Doon University, Dehradun in March 2023.

Cultural, People-to-People Contacts

19.    An agreement on cultural cooperation has been in existence since 1975 and cooperation activities are carried out through four-yearly ‘Programmes of Cultural Cooperation’ under the framework of this agreement. ICCR offers four scholarships to Mexicans every year. Leading Mexican university ‘Colegio de Mexico’ and the ‘National Autonomous University of Mexico’ have important centers of Indian studies. An Octavio Paz Chair of Indian Studies chaired by a professor deputed by ICCR was established at Colegio de Mexico in July 2010.

20.   India was the Guest of Honour country at the 46th Cervantino International Festival held in October 2018, the biggest cultural festival in the entire Hispanic world. India was also the first Asian nation to be the Guest of Honour country at Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL 2019) held in November-December of 2019. Within the framework of the 50^th Cervantino International Festival, a major 3-day festival to celebrate India in Guanajuato was organised from 28-30 January 2022. Two cultural troupes also participated in the festival from 12-30 October 2022. India was  a Guest country at the prestigious Book Fair of the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo. India was the Guest of Honor at the 12^th Edition of the International Image Festival (FINI) at the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo, held from April 20-28, 2023.

21.    A bust of Mahatma Gandhi, donated by ICCR to the Municipality of Guanajuato, a World Heritage City, was installed on 26 April 2019. During the visit of A statue of Swami Vivekanand at the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo and a bust of freedom fighter and agricultural scientist, Dr. Pandurang Khankhoje at Chapingo University were unveiled by the Hon’ble Speaker of Lok Sabha Shri Om Birla during his visit to Mexico in August-September 2022.

22.    The Gurudev Tagore Indian Cultural Centre has been functioning in Mexico since October 2010 to manifest widespread interest in Mexico in various facets of Indian art, culture, and way of life. Regular classes for Yoga, Indian Classical and Bollywood dances, Sitar, Tabla, Hindi, Sanskrit, and Indian Cooking Classes are held at the Centre.

Indian Community

23.    The Indian community (PIOs/NRIs) in Mexico is small, numbering about 8000 with about one fifth of them in Mexico City, and the rest spread in Guadalajara, Monterrey, Cuernavaca, Queretaro, Cancun etc. The bulk is formed by IT professionals working for IT companies like TCS, Infosys and WIPRO. Others comprise executives of Indian and international companies, academicians, and some businesspersons mostly in pharmaceuticals, textile and garment business. In 2016, an ‘Indian Association of Mexico (IAM)’ was registered locally which commands good membership and support of the community. Indian cuisine is quite popular and a few Indian restaurants have been running successfully in Mexico. Mexico City has a Sikh Gurudwara, a mosque as well as an ISKCON temple.

Consular

24.    Under a bilateral agreement signed in October 2005, diplomatic and official passport holders are exempted from visa for a stay of maximum of 90 days. Persons (of any nationality) holding valid multiple entry visa of the USA, Canada or Schengen Area also do not require visa to enter Mexico for tourism, transit, and business purposes for up to 180 days. Mexico is included in the list of countries whose citizens are eligible for the online Electronic Tourist Visa (eTV).

(Annexure on list of MoU´s/Agreements on next page)

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Annexure- 1

Index