State Dinner Hosted By His Excellency Dr Ernesto Zedillo Ponce De León

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF MEXICO Palacio Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico

Mr President, Mrs Zedillo, distinguished members of the Cabinet, distinguished guests, thank you for the warm welcome you have extended to our delegation.

Mr President, we look forward to your visit to New Zealand for the APEC Leaders' meeting in September.

I understand you will have to return to Mexico immediately after the summit for a vital day in your country's calendar.

Thankfully, the international dateline and modern air travel will allow you to be in both New Zealand and Mexico on the 13th of September.

It is wonderful to be in Mexico.

My visit to the Latin American APEC economies reflects the importance we in New Zealand place on the Western Pacific dimension of APEC and on working together to advance the goals of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation process.

Mr President, I acknowledge the important role that Mexico - and you personally - play in APEC. It is well recognised and much admired.

Mexico has shown consistent political leadership in advancing APEC's goals of free and open trade and investment and economic and technical cooperation across the Asia Pacific region.

In the current economic climate you have also shared valuable lessons on how to bounce back from economic downturn through taking the hard decisions necessary to achieve growth and sound economic fundamentals.

Mexico will be shouldering the responsibility of chairing APEC in 2002.

This year New Zealand is counting on Mexico's support to help us achieve practical outcomes from our year in the Chair.

As Chair of APEC we are seeking:

solid Asia Pacific support for a new round of global trade negotiations; increased opportunities for doing business throughout the APEC region; strengthened markets that help our economies attract and retain investment; and deeper economic and technical cooperation between APEC members with policy tools that foster sustainable development and economic and employment growth. As we look toward each other from opposite sides of the Pacific I am reminded that New Zealand and Mexico have much in common:

Both of us have spent much of the last decade implementing market reforms in our respective economies. We are both world leaders in developing innovative Free Trade Agreements. New Zealand has removed all barriers to trade in goods and services with Australia, through a Closer Economic Relations agreement. In Mexico's case, NAFTA links you with both Canada and the United States. We see ourselves as a trade and investment bridge into Asia and the Pacific, just as you are a dynamic gateway to the Americas. Both Mexico and New Zealand have recovered quickly from the 1997 economic downturn in Asia. And during the time of this 'crisis', Mexican exports to New Zealand have almost doubled while our trade with you increased some 30 percent. From the outset our trade relationship has revealed the discerning tastes of consumers in both countries.

You have for many years been among our most important markets for milk powder. In New Zealand's case, our imports were for many years dominated by fine Mexican rum!

Today, the relationship is more diversified. You sell a lot of high-technology manufactured goods to us and we pay for these imports with sales of our agricultural products and technology.

The rapid growth in two-way trade demonstrates our healthy, open relationship with complementary rather than competing interests.

We are now keen to broaden and deepen our relationship still further.

I am delighted that we have just concluded a new air services agreement that will provide new opportunities for tourism, trade, cultural and people-to-people contact between our countries.

Educational, sports and cultural links are also growing rapidly.

Each year, New Zealand offers short and long-term training awards for post-graduate study in areas such as agricultural science.

New Zealand students are also pursuing educational opportunities in Mexico. We appreciate the scholarships that Mexico has offered to New Zealand students to assist such contacts.

The coming year will see many more contacts between us in the areas of sport and culture.

In July our national soccer team will travel to Mexico to represent Oceania in the Confederation Cup. Unlike Mexico, we cannot claim to be a world leader in soccer. But we share your love of sport, and in other sports we have a record of being giant-killers.

I am also delighted at the prospect of a major exhibition of Mexican art in New Zealand next year.

I am sure this exhibition will be a big new step in raising New Zealanders' awareness of your rich culture.

Through steps like these, hand to hand across the Pacific, we are building better understanding and shared knowledge among the people of our countries.

We have so much we have in common, and so much that we can achieve as Pacific friends and neighbours.

Mexico and New Zealand have a great future through working together.

I know we will both enjoy and prosper from the deepening friendship that I am here to mark today.