Mexico’s Mining Industry

14 Negocios ProMéxico
“i sTRonGly Believe ThaT This is
mexiCo’s Time; The Time To seize
oppoRTuniTies and advanTaGes and
CapiTalize on Them as The GloBal
eConomy GaTheRs momenTum.”
the global economy, Mexico has maintained, even
strengthened, its bet on free trade. In light of the recent
financial turbulence, Mexico decided to move ahead with
its economic liberalization program and not only avoided
adopting protectionist measures, but furthered the
elimination of tariffs and the liberalization of several goods
and services.
With the positive results achieved through the
country’s economic openness strategy, the next step is to
stay the course but with a new perspective.
The strategy is to continue pushing Mexico’s
foreign trade, diversifying both the goods and services
that the country exports and their destinations. To do
so, Mexico is involved in a new generation of free trade
agreements that seek to strengthen the multilateral
trade system and favor regional economic integration
to consolidate global supply chains.
These agreements seek to create synergies and leverage
the specific attributes of each participating economy, to
integrate more solid trade and economic blocs that favor
regional growth and economic development.
—What do you mean when you talk about global
supply chains?
The concept of global value chains means that production
is no longer carried out in one country. Every process,
from producing raw materials to transforming them into
finished goods, is done where the skills, materials, cost and
quality conditions are.
Therefore, a product can be designed in the US
while its parts are manufactured in China and the final
product assembled in Mexico, only to be exported back
to the US, where it is sold to the end consumer.
In this way, import-export statistics lose importance;
what matters is being the country that adds more value to
products, especially in terms of intensive use of knowledge
and complex manufacturing processes.
Mexico has a highly productive export sector that is
internationally competitive, rapidly growing and makes
intensive use of capital and technology.
—In which global supply chains can Mexico become a
key link?
Our country is ready to support more innovation and
high technology activities because we have the necessary
human capital and experience, as well as an economy that
exports sophisticated products.
The goal is to support every sector in the country to
help them move forward in their transition to advanced
manufacturing, with special attention on boosting those
industries that are able to generate more technology and
knowledge transfer, such as the automotive, auto parts,
aerospace, IT and software, electric-electronic, medical
devices and renewable energies.
Mexico is already a very attractive destination for these
sectors. The goal is to seize this opportunity as a country
and further the competitiveness of these industries.
—What is Mexico’s position in the area of advanced
manufacturing?
Mexico is currently a leader in advanced manufacturing.
It is the third largest exporter among G20 members
in medium and high technology manufacturing, as a
percentage of the GDP; Mexico is behind Germany and
South Korea and ahead of China, France and even Japan,
which are globally renowned for their technological
capacity. In addition, we are the leading exporter of
medium and high technology in Latin America.
An interesting fact is that Mexico is home to more
than 200 research and development centers that
belong to global companies such as Dupont, Honeywell,
General Electric, Intel, Ford, Mabe and Ericsson,
among many others.
For this reason, we are looking for a support policy
that includes the manufacturing, services and research
and development sectors. We are speaking of a modern
industrial policy where all sectors make a coordinated
effort to move forward. In that sense, supporting
innovation and productivity in our country will be crucial
tools to achieve this goal.
—What is Mexico’s goal with this policy?
I am very optimistic for Mexico’s future. Currently,
the country is very well positioned and continues
to improve its advanced manufacturing capacities,
strengthening its internal market and consolidating
domestic production chains.
As I have said before, I strongly believe that this
is Mexico’s time; the time to seize opportunities and
advantages and capitalize on them as the global economy
gathers momentum.
Mexico is ready to face today’s challenges, and
I agree with the various analyses that say that the
country will become one of the strongest economies in
the world in the coming years. That is the main goal of
the policies we are implementing.
—What is ProMéxico’s role in this scenario?
At ProMéxico we are working and will continue to work
very hard in the next few years to become the best ally of
companies seeking to export from Mexico and companies
that want to transfer their operations here.
We want to strongly support every investment project
that generates opportunities and well-paid jobs for
Mexicans. We also want to be facilitators who help every
project that comes into our country prosper.
In that sense, we want to work with a higher
degree of integration in every area: with the states,
the business sector and the academic sector. We want
to establish a link with the country’s manufacturing
sector, working hand in hand to generate more
opportunities for growth and development. n
mexico:
a Virtual
Success Story
____
by guillermo rodríguez abitia*
photos archive
mexiCo is seT To BeCome a GReaT
pRoduCeR of viRTual RealiTy
appliCaTions. The evoluTion of
The viRTual RealiTy indusTRy
in mexiCo Will aid oTheRs ThaT
aRe CuRRenTly BoominG in The
CounTRy, like The auTomoTive,
aeRospaCe, TouRism, healTh
seRviCes, and eneRGy indusTRies,
pRovidinG a feRTile GRound
foR a sTRonG leveRaGinG of
oppoRTuniTies and sTRenGThs.
Negocios ProMéxico 15
For most people, virtual reality
has become a commonplace term
in their everyday lives. Today,
children have grown accustomed
to interacting with computer games or
watching movies and TV programs in 3D.
Professionals rely on computer programs
which allow them to design models of
buildings, structures, pieces of machinery,
furniture or even fashion garments, to get
a better idea of how prototypes look from
different perspectives.
Even though virtual reality has been
around for some decades, it is until now
that its presence has become pervasive in
people’s lives, at many levels.
whaT is virTual realiTy?
Some of the concepts used in information
technology jargon, like artificial intelligence
and virtual reality, have caused people
to get lost in translation and to misunderstand
what virtual reality truly is.
Virtual reality refers to the creation of an
artificial world in which a user may interact
in many levels. It may be semi-immersive,
as is the case of video games and
simple animated videos, where the definition
of objects and the sense of depth give
a clear three-dimensional perspective, requiring
no more sophisticated equipment
than a simple screen; or immersive, where
through the use of special glasses or other
equipment, one gets the feeling that objects
“jump out” of the screen, which is what
is known as 3D. The most extreme cases
of virtual reality are those called “caves,”
where a person stands within a 360-degree
virtual world and interacts with it,
rather than being just a passive viewer.
At the National Autonomous University