Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari said Tuesday Japanese and other foreign businesses ready to invest in Mexico will be "given equal treatment" with U.S. firms under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"Mexico will not transform NAFTA into an economic fortress," he said. "In the process of negotiations leading up to the conclusion of the NAFTA, Mexico sought to put in provisions that would enable it to conclude free trade agreements with other regions of the world."Some nations, including Japan, have voiced fears NAFTA could become a trading bloc locking other countries out of the lucrative North American market, but Salinas told a U.N. University audience Mexico will be able to expand its trade relationship with Japan.
"Under the NAFTA accord . . . all the foreign business firms that will invest in Mexico will be given equal treatment under the same laws and same systems," Salinas said.
He said he told Peter Sutherland, director general of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, two months ago that the agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada is not designed to exclude any foreign countries.
Salinas met with Japanese bankers and attended a meeting hosted by the Federation of Economic Organizations.
Under new legislation, Salinas said all Japanese banks with subsidiaries in the United States or Canada will be allowed to open offices in Mexico.
At the opening ceremony Monday of an institute promoting Mexican culture in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto west of Tokyo, Salinas expressed the hope that close cultural exchanges would benefit both Japan and Mexico.