Heads up – Embassy 23 – February 2010

Mexico’s middle man

Mexico’s new Ambassador comes to London with one foreign policy goal: “To have more of the world in Mexico, and more of Mexico in the world,” says Eduardo Medina-Mora.

It’s a catchy phrase that encompasses the multiple roles Mexico now plays on the world stage - from its membership of the G20 group of powerful economies to hosting the upcoming climate change summit.

The agenda may be complex, but nothing this barrister and businessman turned government official can’t handle. Prior to his posting in London, he spent nine years strenghtening Mexico’s security infrastructure to meet the twin challenges of terrorism and organised crime.

Medina-Mora was director general of Mexico’s Civil Intelligence Agency in the immediate post-9/11 era when combating terrorism became a priority. He led several Mexican delegations in sensitive negotiations on border security with the US and its neighbours to the south.

He went on to become Secretary of State for Public Security (2005-06) and later Attorney General (2006-09) where he oversaw a fundamental overhaul of the criminal justice system and was in the frontline in the government’s campaign against Mexico’s powerful drug barons.

“The government is focused on solving this problem, which has arisen due to our location on the route through which stimulants from South America are shipped to the huge market in the US,” he explains. “This has made these criminal groups are powerful and able to destroy the lives of ordinary Mexican citizens, particularly in those areas bordering the US.”

Restoring public security is the final pillar in Mexico’s advancement, following its peaceful transition to a multiparty democracy and its enviable macroeconomic stability which it worked hard to achieve over the past 15 years.

Mexico has managed to weather the recent financial crisis and the Ambassador, an entrepreneur at heart, wants to use his time in London to boost bilateral economic ties with Britain.

He’s  got the right credentials, having been a corporate director of the DESC Group, a vast Mexican conglomerate with interests in auto parts, petrochemicals and the agribusiness sectors. He’s an astute trade negotiator too, having advised the Mexican government during the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations.

“The economic relationship between Britain and Mexico is small in comparison to the size of our economies,” says Medina-Mora. “Mexico has the 13th largest economy in the world and some have predicted that it could be the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world by 2020.”

The basics are there – a big market, good logistics and infrastructure, skilled labour supported by professional services. Mexico is also a gateway to the markets of North and South America and the Pacific, he adds. “We have free trade agreements with 50 nations. Mexico is a very open economy and foreign trade accounts for 60 per cent of our GDP,” he says, listing opportunities for British investors in areas as diverse as manufacturing, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, precision instruments, aerospace and the automotive industry.

Some challenges remain, he admits. The labour market needs to be more flexible and the infrastructure could be improved, especially in the South, the heart of the country’s tourist industry, which attracts thousands of British visitors – in spite of the Swine Flu outbreak, another crisis that tested Mexico’s resilience last year.

Later this year the idyllic resort of Cancun will host the COP16 summit on climate change and nailing down a binding agreement will be a test of Mexican diplomacy.

Mexico is committed to the creation of a financial scheme to help developing countries adapt to the new realities of climate change, says Medina-Mora. “Countries should not be forced to arrest their progress, but should have incentives to develop in such a way that doesn’t destroy the environment. That requires a transfer of resources, technology and skills.”

It is hoped that ideas such as this will bridge the many competing interests at the talks. “We will try to streamline the decision-making process so that we can come to an agreement,” he says, adding that the G20 meetings may provide a useful template. “The G20 has shown that you can work in an orderly manner with a well designed agenda and get things done, as happened in the financial crisis.”

That pragmatic approach may provide some useful ideas for reforming the UN and the international architecture, another area where Britain and Mexico cooperate closely, particularly now that Mexico has a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Over and above the solid political and commercial ties, the two countries share an abiding cultural bond, recently demonstrated with the blockbuster exhibition at the British Museum, which attracted 257,000 visitors.

There is more to come, he adds, as this year Mexico celebrates both its bicentenary of independence and the centenary of the Mexican Revolution, which shaped modern Mexico. “We have a fantastic programme of events,” beams the Ambassador, including an all-female Mariachi band, film festivals and exhibitions to name a few.