The Mexican Embassy, Deputy Head of Mission, Rodrigo Tenorio, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.
He
spoke on the sideline of a roundtable for working business discussion
on trade mission to Mexico organised by the Nigerian-Mexican Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (NMCCI) and Mexican Embassy.
“Though
the figure may be small but in reality it is a huge transaction that we
have in the last 15 years, which was then 45 million dollars.
“What that means is that it has grown more than 500 times in 15 years and our aim and goal is to ensure it grows more.
“There
are some similarity between Nigeria and Mexico, we are predominantly
largest and young population and we are about power house of our region
just as Nigeria in Africa,” he said.
According
to him, Mexico sees Nigeria as a natural spring board to stand for the
entire Africa and main goal is to make sure that Nigeria is known as
number one economy in Africa.
He said that the major challenge in the relationship between the two countries was that they did not know each other well.
“We do not know each other, Mexico is known for drugs while Nigeria is known for Boko Haram and other social vices.
“But there is much more than that, what is most important in building the relationship is to know each other better.
“Once
we know that Mexico is more than drug cartel and baron, Nigeria is much
more than a small group in the north causing trouble,” he said.
According
to him, if we know ourselves better the business people could sit down
and start discussing potential businesses for the future.
The Vice President of NMCCI, Dr Chukwuemeka Elele,
said that the Chamber was launched in December 2014 as part of efforts
to further strengthen the bilateral trade relations, between the two
countries.
He said the chamber had organised its first trade mission to Mexico in May 2015 with 35 Nigerian entrepreneurs participating.
The
trade mission, he said, had given birth to a lot of successful firms in
Nigeria today in term of export to Mexico, saying that there was a lot
for Nigeria to gain in business relationship with Mexico.
He
said that Mexico Business Summit was coming up October 2017 and urged
Nigerian businessmen to take advantage of the opportunities in Mexico.
According
to him, the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, Nigerian Export
Promotion Council and the Nigerian Export-Import Bank also participated
in the trade mission.
“These three
organisations signed Memoranda of Understanding with their counterparts
in Mexico to promote bilateral trade, investment, joint ventures and
strategic alliances.
“These agreements have created opportunities for business in Mexico.
“We
are looking at what each country can gain from each other; we are not
looking at one sided economy but a mutually beneficial relationship," he said.
He
said that before now 80 per cent of Mexico’s revenue used to come from
oil just like Nigeria and 20 per cent from manufacturing sector.
“However,
today they have changed the equation, only 20 per cent of their revenue
comes from oil and 80 per cent comes from manufacturing.
“And
today the economy is doing very well and Nigeria is now treading the
same path, understanding the fact that mono economy is dangerous; we can
learn a lot from Mexico,” he said.
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