Trade between Israel and Mexico reached $700 million last year, up 300 percent since a free-trade agreement was signed between the two countries in 2000, Israel’s ambassador to Mexico announced Thursday.
Ambassador Jonathan Peled told the Mexican newspaper El Universal that the two countries will work to triple the trade in the coming years. “This is a very timely moment for the relationship between Mexico and Israel, which is expressed at political, economic and cultural levels,” Peled said. A Mexican trade office will soon open in Israel, and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is expected to visit Israel some time next year.
“We were one of the first to recognize Israel, in 1950,” Mexican Ambassador to Israel Benito Andion told The Times of Israel last year. “Our Jewish community is well integrated and well respected, and it has wonderful ties with other Mexican communities, as well as with Israel. Many of our Jewish youth have spent time in Israel and served in the IDF. To me, Israel and Mexico are a natural fit.”
Israel is now Mexico’s biggest trading partner in the Middle East. The two countries signed a research and development pact in 2014 that provides funding for joint scientific endeavors, specifically concentrating in medical, agricultural, and water technology, three of the most common Israeli exports to Mexico. The Israeli water company Aqwise opened a new wastewater treatment facility in Durango in April. Many Israeli cyber-security firms have set up offices in Mexico, and many Israeli start-ups are swayed by Mexico’s reputation as one of the easiest places to raise and transfer capital in Latin America, the Times reported last year.
Israel’s economic ties across Latin America have swelled rapidly over the past decade. Israel signed a free trade agreement in 2005 with the South American trading bloc Mercosur, whose members include Argentina and Brazil. In February 2014, Israel was granted observer status in the Pacific Alliance, an economic union that accounts for around 40 percent of Latin America’s GDP.
[Athletes from the Mexican delegation wave their flags during the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games in Jerusalem, July 18, 2013. Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90]