The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized an Interactive Session with His Excellency Federico Salas Lotfe; Ambassador of Mexico to India on 3rd February 2020 in the Chamber premises.

The Ambassador was accompanied by Mr. Sumit Mazumder, Former President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Honorary Consul, Republic of Mexico in Kolkata. Mr. B B Chatterjee, President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed the Ambassador.; Mr. Subhodip Ghosh, Director General, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other senior dignitaries were also present in the programme.

Mr. B B Chatterjee shared the inputs on bilateral business between Mexico and India. There are about 70 Indian companies operate in Mexico, across sectors such as automobiles, pharma, and IT and around 20 Mexican companies operate in India across sectors such as auto parts, entertainment, information technology, energy, processed foods, and industrial products.

Mr. Ambarish Dasgupta, Former President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Founder and Senior Partner, Intueri Consulting LLP, who was also present in the programme, made an insightful address on "Bengal - Partnering State for Mexico". Mr. Dasgupta said that India and Mexico have striking similarities in geo-climatic conditions, biodiversity, physiognomy and people, cultural and family values, as well as European connections of the colonial era. Bengal has three main components, namely the Energy sector, MSME and Deep Sea Ports that serve to link ASEAN countries. He also mentioned that most of the goods like gems and jewellery and aluminium that India exports to Mexico, are manufactured in Bengal. The vision of Bengal is to be a strong logistic hub. So there is a good potential of these sectors with regards to Mexico. Mr. Sumit Mazumder highlighted the potential sectors for bilateral trade between India and Mexico including Auto parts; Software and IT; Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, Engineering goods and Minerals. He stated that Trade with India has grown immensely in last few years.

His Excellency Federico Salas Lotfe mentioned that Mexico is looking to expand its economic, Political and cultural footprint in India. Apart from businesses and cultural contacts, Mexico is trying to expand People to people connect and tourism. His Excellency emphasized that India is one of the countries that are being involved in refinery infrastructure project. In the areas of Startups and IT, Mexico is trying to bring added value with India through collaboration and look to move with greater dynamism in Innovations, Artificial Intelligence and IT. He also asserted that development of Spanish Language and its growing interest in India is a very encouraging sign. Water Technology in Mexico and so share of this knowledge with India is another common area of Interest. His Excellency mentioned that Mexico also shares clean air experience with India since it.s a major area of concern in most Indian cities. Cybercrime and data theft are other areas where Mexico looks to India to share technology since both Governments share challenge of digital governance as a drive of combat corruption.

His Excellency also mentioned that The signing of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has lent "certainty" on foreign direct investment by international companies in the Latin American economy, including some 200-odd enterprises from India.

The forum included a very vibrant interactive session with the Chamber invitees.