Jalisco looks to India and the Middle East to reduce trade dependence on the US
Jalisco has great opportunities to diversify markets and grow its exports through India and the Middle East, reducing its dependence on the United States, Miguel Ángel Landeros, president of the Mexican Foreign Trade Council (Comce) for Western Mexico, told El Economista.
Upon his return from a trade mission to the region, the export sector leader said that the United Arab Emirates has become an important logistics hub “with enormous opportunities for Mexican companies.”
“We have focused so much on the USMCA that we have neglected other markets where we have and do not have trade agreements, such as the Gulf with the United Arab Emirates, which has become a spectacular logistics hub with enormous opportunities for Mexican companies,” he said.
Landeros Volquarts explained that the goal is not only to export to Dubai, but to use it as a logistics platform to distribute local products throughout the region. To this end, Comce signed an agreement with the logistics company DPI, which handles 30% of all cargo in the area.
“We took 15 companies there so they could see the opportunities, establish commercial deals, and take advantage of Dubai's platform for exporting products throughout the region. We are talking about the seven emirates, but also Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and India, because the logistical opportunities create spaces for products to reach the Gulf and be exported from there,” explained the president of Comce Occidente.
He added that in India, the business organization followed up on the business guide developed in coordination with the Mexican Embassy in that country, as well as the meeting of the Indian Industrial Confederation, which will hold its meeting for Latin America and the Caribbean next February.
“We have said time and time again that opportunities outside the United States lie in Asia and other parts of the world, but particularly in India, which has been experiencing economic development for many years and where our companies can grow in a very specific way.”
According to Landeros Volquarts, in addition to being an important market for Jalisco products, India also represents an alternative supplier for Mexico at a time when China poses risks to trade relations with the United States.
