The fifth meeting of the India-Mexico Bilateral High Level Group on Trade, Investment and Cooperation (BHLG) was held on 9 October 2020 through video conference. The meeting was co-chaired by the Commerce Secretary of the Government of India, Dr. Anup Wadhawan and the Vice Minister for Foreign Trade of the Government of Mexico, Ms. Luz María de la Mora. Several Ministries, Departments and Business Chambers from both countries participated in the meeting.

The two sides appreciated the progress made in the bilateral trade and commercial relations between India and Mexico in the recent years. Both sides discussed a number of bilateral ongoing and outstanding issues, ranging from Audio-visual Co-production, Bilateral Investment Treaty, market access for agricultural products, a cooperation framework on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) & Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) measures between the two countries, co-operation in the Intellectual Property Rights, and exploring ways to promote tourism and people-to-people contact between India and Mexico.

In the meeting, two business to business MoUs were signed, to foster the cooperation in the respective domains. A Memorandum of Understanding between the Electronics & Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) of India and the Mexican Chamber of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technologies (CANIETI) was signed. A Memorandum of Understanding between the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Mexican Business Council of Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology (COMCE) for promoting the development of business relations between India and Mexico was also signed.

They also agreed to expand and diversify the bilateral trade relationship to tap the potential of the complementarities between India and Mexico through enhanced cooperation in pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, healthcare, agro-products, fisheries, food processing and aerospace industry etc. A ‘Joint Statement’ after the successful conclusion of the meeting was issued.

Bilateral trade cooperation expands between India and Mexico after agreement to deepen sectoral collaboration and sign business MoUs. The meeting advanced bilateral trade cooperation by focusing on market access for agricultural products, establishing cooperation on Sanitary and Phytosanitary and Technical Barriers to Trade measures, strengthening Intellectual Property Rights collaboration, and pursuing complementarities in pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, agro-products and aerospace. Two business-to-business Memoranda of Understanding were signed to operationalise sectoral linkages between trade promotion bodies and business councils, and the parties committed to expand and diversify trade through enhanced cooperation, issuing a Joint Statement.