A siete años de la firma del Acuerdo entre México y la Unión Europea

Abstract

Seven years have passed since the Agreement on Economic Associa- tion, Political Concertation and Cooperation between the United Mexi- can States and the European Community and its state members carne

into force in July 1, 2000. In these seven years, cooperation in different

aspects as well as trade links between the partners have been signifi- cantly strengthened.

The three cornponents of the agreement, not onJy trade liberaliza- tion but also political dialogue and cooperation, implied that it was the

most ambitious accord that the European Union (EU) and Mexico had , embarked on. The economic partnership component of the agreement represented the first transatlantic free trade accord. The commercial

accord embodied a set of clear rules on trade that considered the asym- metry of the partners. Differences in development were recognized and

Mexican products were given preferential treatment. Far instance, the

process of tariff reductions far the European Union ended in 2003 whi- le far Mexico it will end in 2007.

Two ways trade increased by 60.7 per cent between 1999 and 2004, a percentage whicb is 15 points above the rate of growth observed in the previous five years. Mexican exports of goods and services grew 51.9 per cent while imports coming from the EU increased by 64.1 per cent. Direct investment frorn the EU (the second majar foreign investor in Mexico) to Mexico was considerably augrnented. The annual average foreign direct investment (FDI) coming from the EU between 1995 and 1999 was 2.41 billion euros, which was almost doubled in the 2000-2004 period when it reached 4.79 billion euros. FDI from the EU to Mexico during the last five years has been strong in financia! services, 43.5 per cent of the total, and manufacturing 30.6 per cent. At the end of June 2005 there are 7,206 enterprises in Mexico with investment coming from members of EU.