Bilateral negotiations カジノシークレット 出金 速度exico economic partnership agreement began in November 2002. Such negotiations are now under way in earnest, as indicated by the third round of senior-level negotiations that took place in Mexico in May 2003.
Mexico has concluded free trade agreements with more than 30 countries. Since Japan has not concluded such an agreement with Mexico, Japanese companies must pay tariffs averaging 16 percent, and they are placed in an uncompetitive position relative to European and U.S. companies regarding government procurements and investment. This situation is causing real losses for Japanese companies. Annual losses resulting from the lack of an FTA is estimated at 400 billion Japanese yen (Japan-Mexico Joint Study Group on the Strengthening of Bilateral Economic Relations Final Report), a huge amount approaching the 490 billion Japanese yen in annual exports from Japan to Mexico (both figures for 1999).
In the evaluation of bids for government procurements, Mexican companies enjoy a 10 percent discount over companies from the non-FTA nations, putting Japanese companies at a disadvantage. Furthermore, on May 1, President Vicente Fox announced an economic revitalization program, which included a policy that international bids for government procurements be limited to Mexican companies and companies from FTA nations. As a result, Japanese companies are unable to participate in international bids. Japanese companies have already been excluded from the initial bid package for the large modernization project for PEMEX's Minatitlan refinery, a project anticipated to total 1.6 billion US dollars in value. It is also thought that Japanese companies will be excluded from subsequent bid packages. Concern is growing that this situation will spread to include other projects. Japanese companies are facing the difficult condition of forfeiting major business opportunities in Mexico.
To resolve this situatiカジノシークレット 出金 速度s soカジノシークレット 出金 速度s possible, the early conclusion of a Japan-Mexico economic partnership agreement is indispensable. This will become the first full-fledged one for Japan as it will involve sensitive sectors requiring difficult negotiations, unlike the agreement concluded with Singapore. In view of trade negotiations with Asian nations in the near future, an economic partnership agreement with Mexico will become a standard model for these negotiations. President Vicente Fox is scheduled to visit Japan in October. We earnestly hope that カジノシークレット 出金 速度 will proceed so an economic partnership agreement can be reached between Japan and Mexico at that time.