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 Introduction - Alliances & Investments - Expanding frontiers - Free market -
Telecom and transport - Banking - Energy sector - Tourism - States of Opportunities -
Agro Industry - Multinationals - Industrial States 
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Interview with
Dr. Herman Von Bertrab,
President of the Mexican Investment Board (MIB)
February 15th, 2000
Website : www.mib.org.mx
| Could you give us a brief historical background on the Mexican Investment Board?
The Mexican Investment Board began operating almost 10 years ago. Mexico was a very enclosed country as far as foreign trade is concerned until we started negotiating NAFTA, and at that moment this institution was created as part of the opening process of Mexican frontiers. Its main mission is to promote foreign direct investment to Mexico and the strategies for doing so are in the one hand publicity and in the other hand the fact that we make it easier for companies to get into the country. Facilities are achieved mostly through information and contact, so we provide all the overall and detailed information about Mexico, and we help Mexican and foreign companies to make contact with each other when a strategic alliance is to be made furnishing the Mexican consultants needed. Initially we were focusing our attention upon big companies mostly in the US, Europe and Japan in order to bring them to Mexico. Now that phase is over because most of the largest companies worldwide are already working here, and the ones that are not have their very special reasons for not wanting so, and there is nothing we can do about it, it is no more a matter of promotion. What we are doing now is selecting medium size companies, specially the ones that work as suppliers for bigger ones, and bringing them to Mexico. For instance the managers from a very important manufacturer French company that is coming for the first time to Mexico, told us about their supplying needs and so we talked with about 20 different European companies trying to convince the right suppliers to come here. By doing so we participate in the industrial developing of the country and at the same time we help big industries to raise their productivity rates. Another important selecting criteria is that companies must be able to integrate themselves to the Mexican economy, filling certain gaps that our industry has in several sectors, and one way of doing this is looking at our industrial clusters’ organization. An interesting thing that is happening is that we have been structuring industrial clusters that are areas equipped with all services put together in order to gather all kinds of industries and their suppliers forming some strong working units. For example in Altamira, in the region of Tampico we have the cluster of petrochemical industry, in Tijuana we have electronics, computers systems in Guadalajara, in Torreon and Puebla we have textiles, and so we try to figure out which are still the necessity and then we go out looking for the medium size companies that will correct those deficiencies. To do this we have to promote ourselves and there are many ways of doing this. In the first place we have direct promotion where all larger companies tell us who their suppliers are and then we go directly to them. Secondly we practice a kind of sectorial promotion where we establish a fix number of industrial activities that we want to impact and before addressing directly to a particular company we make a seminar for all companies that could work with us in that specific sector. Last year we paid special attention to the European Union and we will be doing so this year because of the free-trade agreement with Europe, and every time we go somewhere we take with us a group of Mexican experts that know everything about the sector or sectors that are to be promoted. This year we will be visiting France, Birmingham, Belgium, The Netherlands, Venice, Bilbao in Europe and Japan in Asia.
Which is today the most important sector in terms of investment attraction?
Even if there are many important industrial sectors today in Mexico, I would put in the first place the automotive vehicles and auto-parts sector and in the second place electronics as TV-sets and household appliances. The TV-sets manufacturer industry is a very good example of what we are trying to do. When it first started in Tijuana only 5% of the TV-sets’ components where made in Mexico, this year that rate will go up to 50% just because we made a good work and there have been suppliers coming in.
| We were first doing just the wiring, then we realized that we were able to do the cathode-ray tube and started doing it, and today we are also manufacturing the screens, so given that 1 of each (over) 2 TV-sets sold in the US is imported from Mexico we can say that 25% of US’ TV-sets is entirely made with Mexican technology. Finally in the third place comes the textile industry. As far as the infrastructure industry is concerned the gas distribution and electrical industries come in the first place. There are a lot of things, many sectors have been abandoned and a lot of management is still to be done.
What do you think is going to be the impact of the free-trade treaty with the EU compared to the NAFTA experience?
NAFTA is much more important than this new free-trade agreement because it meant the beginning of a transition period and the strengthen of our relationship with the biggest economy in the world, which by the way is our neighbor. NAFTA set up the bases for everything else and the EU free-trade agreement could not be possible without NAFTA. That does not mean that this new treaty will not be important. First of all Mexico will become a very important industrial center between Europe and the US, many products and services will be entering either way through Mexico, and this will represent an enormous development opportunity for many sectors. Many European companies will come here to invest but thinking about US market and many North American industries will be able to export to Europe from here. We will be the commercial link between both of them. And in the second place Mexican industries will be finally known in the European market, and we will be able to export Mexican-made manufactured products as the ones we are already exporting to North America.
What would you say has been the most successful starting of an investor in Mexico and the most successful joint venture for an investor with Mexican companies?
There are several examples of successful joint ventures such as the strategically alliance of Vitro with Whirlpool. As an example of a successful investor we have VW that for many years has maintained its quality rates in all its productive areas. One thing that makes it possible for investors to grow is the fact that the productivity rates of the Mexican workers are extraordinary because of their physical, psychological and creative capabilities. The Ford Motors Company plant in Hermosillo is the second most efficient plant in the world, just because the workers are good. This has to be added to the list of advantages an investor has in Mexico.
What is your final message to our readers?
Mexico is a departure point for market accessing. From here investors will have access to the world’s two biggest commercial blocs, and if we have in mind that this young country offers to investors one of the most efficient working class and some of the best infrastructure facilities of the world, coming here to invest will surely bring benefits to everybody. You can see very well how the infrastructure is getting better and better every day in sectors such as energy producing and distribution, communications and telecommunications. Mexico is now a mature country socially, politically and economically speaking. The actual government gave us the opportunity to put in right order our macro-economical systems and with all the technological advances that all the treaties have brought to us, there is no way back we are heading towards the right direction which will make possible a total development of the country economically and politically. Mexico is an opportunity that you would not like to miss. |
© World INvestment NEws, 2000.
This is the electronic edition of the special country report on Mexico published in Forbes Global.
July 3rd 2000 Issue.
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MEXICO
