México Trade Mission to Belize

Fernando Torres

The protest was not the only event of the day. A trade mission coordinated by the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology, ProMex and the Mexican Embassy wound up today. Representatives from six companies as well as public and private sector organizations were in Belize for two days of meetings with local businesses, Beltraide and the Ministry of Economic Development to discuss ways to boost cross border trade. The overall objective of the mission was to create mutually beneficial arrangements to introduce Belizean products and services to Mexico and vice versa. Fernando Torres, the Southern Regional Coordinator of ProMex spoke to News Five about the companies that were represented in the Mexican delegation.

Fernando Torres, Southern Regional Coord., ProMex

“We have a company that makes auto parts—air conditioning systems for automobiles—very good quality. This company is a regional equipment manufacturer so these people sell to Volkswagen, General Motors and Ford. So they’re very good quality air conditioning systems. We have a company that manufactures cement poles for power lines. So we see that here in Belize you use wooden poles and we think that cement poles are much better; they can sustain impact of heavy winds such as hurricane winds better than wooden poles. So we have this product here. We have a company that produces condiments or spices for food. So this will make your food taste better; they are here with us. We have a company that has a septic tank and it’s an ecological septic tank. And this is very good for the environment. We have a services company that is in customs broker services industry. So the group is made up of various companies and we are very interested to be here in Belize. Some of them are here in Belize for the first time. So our interest of course, our goal is to have people know each other. We know that there is a lack of information about Belize in Mexico and a lot of information about Mexico is not known here in Belize. So we are reaching out, we are neighbors and we are very happy to be here with you.”

Other initiatives in the pipeline to increase trade and investment between the two countries include a possible Partial Scope Agreement and the creation of the Chamber of Commerce Chetumal-Belize.