China's Guangdong Province looks to boost trade, exchanges with Mexico

China's southern Guangdong Province is aiming to boost its connections with Mexico in trade and exchanges, a visiting delegation of the province said here Monday.

"We want to increase inter-connectivity. We hope both sides will work on it together," said Hu Chunhua, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, at a Mexico-China (Guangdong) Cooperation Forum that gathered some 300 officials and business people from both countries.

The forum opened with the signing of 18 cooperation agreements, including projects to promote investment and facilitate information exchange.

Hu suggested that the two countries expand the trade of seafood products, general industrial goods and increase their technical cooperation and high-level official exchanges.

"In the near future, Guangdong's main task will be to promote a structural adjustment. We are going to strive to develop the high-tech industry and upgrade traditional industry based on new technologies, such as intelligent manufacturing and China's Internet Plus plan," said Hu.

"In that way we can establish a new economic structure characterized by innovation," he added.

Mexico's Deputy Economy Minister Rogelio Garza said that "we want Chinese companies to come to invest in Mexico and to have Mexican companies go to China."

In particular, Garza named Mexico's aerospace, electricity, automotive and energy sectors as potential investment opportunities for Chinese firms.

Chinese business owners have consulted the Mexican government for the incentives and mechanisms available to potential investors, said Garza, adding that the details and norms for private-sector investment in Mexico's special economic zones will be published in a month.

Mexico is Guangdong's leading partner in Latin America in terms of trade volume, and the province's 10th-largest export market. Endit