探索墨西哥商机正当时
文｜何塞·路易斯·贝尔纳尔（H.E.Ambassador José Luis Bernal ）墨西哥驻华大使 翻译｜周竞男
图片提供｜墨西哥驻华大使馆
导读：
墨西哥宏观经济稳定，致力发展自由贸易，同时，作为一个多元发展的经济体，墨西哥将为投资者提供积极的商业环境和多种投资方式。综上所述，现在正是探索墨西哥商业机会的好时机
● 发展自由贸易 打造优渥投资环境
●更深入的全面战略伙伴关系
●投资激励机制
墨西哥稳定的宏观经济指标、对结构性改革的决心以及开放的市场政策，使其有别于其他新兴经济体，越来越受到全球投资者和商界人士的青睐。
发展自由贸易 打造优渥投资环境
作为世界新兴经济体翘楚之一的墨西哥，位于美洲大陆的心脏地带。它无与伦比的地理位置，为无论是打入北边的美加市场，还是南边的拉丁美洲市场，都提供了快捷通道。同时它恰处大西洋和太平洋中心位置，又能与欧洲和亚洲的各个经济体直接相连。
墨西哥拥有超过1.2亿人口，这个市场生机勃勃，并已巩固了自己作为世界第15大、拉美第二大经济体的地位。拉丁美洲和加勒比经济委员会（CEPAL）已经预测墨西哥2018年的经济增长率为2.3%——高于拉美整个区域的平均增长预估值；世界银行公布的《2018年营商环境报告》中，墨西哥在190个经济体中位列49，问鼎拉丁美洲国家排名，并远远高于如丹麦、卢森堡、南非、中国和土耳其等其他经济体。
墨西哥一直努力打造坚挺的经济环境，以适应全球经济环境，而这些努力正在显示成效。过去几年里，为了提高生产力、激发竞争力、提速经济增长，一系列雄心勃勃的结构性改革在关键领域展开。如今，能源和电信领域已经开放了市场竞争；消费和出口得以扩大；能源价格已经与市场形成联动；金融和劳动力市场也表现良好。
墨西哥同样致力于发展自由贸易。墨西哥构建了一个由12个自贸协定组成的广泛的贸易网络，对接46个国家的11亿消费者。该网络令墨西哥在G20国家中位列最开放经济体第三名。最近这个网络还得到了全面与进步跨太平洋伙伴关系协定（CPTPP）和新修订的墨西哥-欧盟全球协议加持。此外，太平洋联盟（Pacific Alliance）的加强以及墨西哥新近与美国签订的就实现北美自贸协定现代化的协议等，都壮大了该国的贸易网络。另外，墨西哥还与40多个国家签署了32项相互促进和保护投资协定（RIPPA），六项经济互补协定（ECA），三项局部自由贸易协定（PSA）和双重税协议。
这样一个制度框架助力墨西哥成为了拉丁美洲最大的出口国和全球第15大出口国。墨西哥90%销往国外的工业品与汽车、电子和航空业相关。墨西哥是全球第一大平面和等离子显示屏、冰箱及热水器出口国；第二大空调出口国；第三大洗衣机和IT服务出口国；第四大电脑出口国；第六大汽车生产国和第四大汽车出口国；还是第九大医疗设备出口国。也正因此，墨西哥奠定了制造强国的地位，也巩固了其作为世界级物流平台的地位。
在投资方面，墨西哥同样表现强势。 《2018世界投资报告》指出，墨西哥是全球第11大FDI接受国，并且跨国企业的最高执行官们认定其为2017-2019年间全球第九大最受欢迎投资地，证明了墨西哥投资环境的优越，以及国内外投资者们在国际经济前景未明的情况下，依然给予该国经济的信任。
除此之外，为了吸引更多外资，用以创造高薪职位及高产出区域，墨西哥正在南部开发三个经济特区（SEZ）：恰帕斯港经济特区（Puerto Chiapas）、夸察夸尔克斯经济特区（Coatzacoalcos）和拉萨罗卡德纳斯—拉乌尼翁经济特区（Lázaro Cárdenas-La Unión）。
作为一个多元发展的经济体，墨西哥巩固了它作为世界领先的、最具吸引力的新兴市场地位，也巩固了它作为最受中国企业欢迎的投资地的地位。因为中国企业正在寻求投放产品的新市场，也在寻求一个国际平台以便这些产品进入北美、拉美、欧洲和其他地区。
为进一步方便中国和全球的投资者，墨西哥推出了“墨西哥项目库”一站式项目招标门户网站（Mexico Projects Hub），将各个基建项目的招标要求、步骤、法规等一一罗列，大大提高了招投标的效率和便捷。
更深入的全面战略伙伴关系
对于墨中两国来说，经贸关系具有战略意义。成为全面战略伙伴这五年来，两国之间的交流擦出了前所未有的火花，两国关系也迈进了一个新时代。
中国在墨西哥的贸易多元化战略中起到了重要作用。如今，中国已是墨西哥第二大贸易伙伴，双方经济往来在2017年达到810亿美元，比2016年增长了8%。这一积极趋势延续到了2018年——今年前七个月，墨中双边贸易比去年同期提升了15%。中国还是墨西哥第二大进口国和第四大出口目的地。而墨西哥在拉美和加勒比地区一直保持着中国第一大贸易伙伴的身份。
过去十年里，墨中贸易不止翻了一番，而且两国贸易对于墨西哥的全球价值链来说，至关重要。墨西哥约71%的自华进口是与汽车、电子和机械领域相关的半成品，它们经由墨西哥加工变成最终产品，再销往世界各地。
墨中贸易还与前者的多样化和质量相关。我们和中国进行贸易往来的商品五花八门，从优质农作物食品到高附加值的工业产品，一应俱全，这显示出两国商界对彼此市场兴趣之深厚，以及两国之间的经济关系发展之深入。2017年，两国的食品贸易就超过了10亿美元，创下历史新高，它让中国消费者得以品尝到120多种墨西哥食物，如牛油果、啤酒、龙舌兰酒和海鲜等。2017年，墨西哥成为了第一个向中国提供汽车和汽车零部件的拉美国家，而中国也成为墨西哥汽车和汽车零部件第五大出口国。
在投资方面，中国位列墨西哥第三大亚洲投资国，仅次于日本和韩国。联想、中兴、华为科技、北汽、江淮汽车、敏实、明华、中海油、远景能源、晶科太阳能、海尔、海信、中国工商银行和中国银行等成功立足墨国内市场的标志性中企多不胜数。与此同时，墨西哥对华投资也成果颇丰，包括宾堡（烘烤类产品）、Gruma（玉米和小麦类产品）、萨孚凯（软件）、尼玛克和Metalsa（汽车配件）、Kuo Group（化工产品）和ICC公司（陶瓷制品）。
为了进一步驱动双边投资，墨西哥总统恩里克·培尼亚·涅托和中国国家主席习近平在双方七次会面中都强调了双向投资的重要性。为此，墨西哥和中国发起了不少倡议来促进两国企业的战略性伙伴关系，包括成立了双边高级别投资工作组，以及墨中投资基金——该基金持有12亿美元联合资本，而且这笔资金的用途已经落到实处。
除此以外，墨西哥和中国为便利两国商界交流所做出的努力也可谓史无前例。所以，如今墨中两国大大增强了空域的互联互通——每周都有来自墨西哥航空（墨西哥城—上海线）、中国南方航空（广州—墨西哥城线，经停温哥华）和海南航空（北京—墨西哥城，经停提华纳）共10趟航班在两国之间穿梭。这种紧密的连通性夯实了墨西哥作为中国通往拉美和加勒比海地区的门户地位。
两国为巩固经济关系而施行的长期合作战略具有包容性和战略性，将会为双方的携手打开新的通衢。现在正是探索墨西哥商业机会的好时机。
投资激励机制
墨西哥提供多种激励机制来促进各领域外商直接投资的增长，从而拉动国内行业的发展。其中较突出的有：
外贸投资促进机制
促进生产、加工和出口服务业项目（IMMEX）：这一项目允许临时进口一些免进口税、增值税和部分反贴补税的产品。之后，这些产品必须在工业生产过程或服务中使用，以生产、改造或修理临时进口的外国商品，以供后续的出口或提供出口服务。
扇形推广项目（PROSEC）：特定的产品可以以优惠的从价关税进口，前提是他们属于或被使用于特定商品的生产过程当中。
退税计划
这项计划适用于推动以下产品的进口税退税：进口以后又被纳入出口货物当中的产品；原封不动被退回的产品；被修理或改变过的产品。
第八规则项目：对进口原材料、零部件、零配件、机械、设备和其他与生产流程有关的货物给予关税豁免。
注册企业新方案：通过减少货物通关过程中的检查次数以及缩短时间，简化国际贸易的行政程序，进一步提高安全性，并促进海关手续便利化。
战略保税仓库：外国、本国或进口的货物可在官方授权的仓库内存放一定时间，此期间免收该货物的进口关税或反补贴税。自由贸易协定已覆盖的货物除外。
税收类相关奖励
直接减税：减税适用于劳动密集型、无污染和低耗水项目。该激励政策在墨西哥城、蒙特雷和瓜达拉哈拉不可用。
联邦政府对非驻留公司的税收优惠政策：符合条件的加工出口公司可享受所得税大幅削减的优惠。
研发税收抵免：符合条件的公司将获得他们全部研发活动投入的30%的税收抵免。
技术发展和创新类促进机制
创新类激励项目：支持投入研究、创新和新技术的公司来研发新产品、新工艺或者新服务。（编辑：张梅）
英文版：
Mexico: China’s Best Choice for Doing Business
H.E. Ambassador of Mexico to China José Luis Bernal
Mexico’s stable macroeconomic indicators, commitment to structural reforms, and open market policy have differentiated it from other emerging economies, increasingly attracting the attention of investors and business people from around the world.
Mexico: A leading emerging economy with a strong commitment to free trade and a positive investment environment
Mexico, one of the world’s leading emerging economies, is located in the heart of the American continent. Its unparalleled geographical location provides quick and easy access to the U.S. and the Canadian markets to the north and to our Latin American partners to the south. Being located right between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans gives Mexico a direct route to the European and Asian economies as well.
Mexico is a vibrant market with a population of over 120 million people that has consolidated itself as the 15th largest economy in the world and the 2nd in Latin America. The Mexican economy is growing and its performance is improving fast. As a result, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) estimated that Mexico will grow 2.3% in 2018, surpassing the expected average growth for the Latin-American region as a whole; and the World Bank 2018 Doing Business Report ranked Mexico in the 49° position among 190 economies, the best place obtained by any Latin-American country and well above other G-20 and European economies like Belgium, Luxemburg, South Africa, China and Turkey, among others.
Mexico’s efforts to build a strong and resilient economy capable of adjusting to the global economic environment are paying off. A series of ambitious structural reforms in key areas such as education, energy, telecommunications, labor and fiscal policies, among other sectors, were set in motion in the past few years to improve productivity, boost competitiveness and increase economic growth. Today, we are able to observe their positive impact in our economy: the energy and telecommunications sectors have been opened to competition; consumption and exports have expanded; energy prices are becoming responsive to market forces; and the financial and labor markets are performing positively.
Mexico is strongly committed to free trade as well. Mexico has an extensive network of 12 Free Trade Agreements that give it access to 1.1 billion consumers in 46 countries. This network, which has made México the third most open economy in the G-20, has been recently strengthened with the adoption of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the renovation of Mexico-European Union Global Agreement, the strengthening of the Pacific Alliance and the agreement recently reached with the United States regarding the modernization of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In addition, Mexico has signed 32 Reciprocal Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements, 6 Economic Complementation Agreements, 3 Partial Scope Agreements and Double Taxation Treaties with more than 40 countries.
This institutional framework has enabled Mexico to become Latin America’s largest exporter and the 15th globally. Almost 90% of Mexico’s sales abroad are manufactures related to the automotive, electronics and aerospace industries, among many others. Mexico is the biggest exporter of flat and plasma screens, refrigerators and water heaters; the 2nd exporter of air conditioners; the 3rd exporter of washing machine and IT services; the 4th exporter of computers; the 6th largest producer and the 4th biggest exporter of cars; and the 9th exporter of medical devices in the world. As a result, Mexico has consolidated itself as a manufacturing powerhouse and as a world-class logistic platform.
Mexico is also a strong player in terms of investment. In 2017, Mexico received $30 billion dollars in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), 11% more than in 2016. According to the World Investment Report 2018, Mexico was the 11th largest recipient of FDI in the world and is considered by top executives of multinational enterprises as the 9th favorite destination to invest during the 2017-2019 period. These figures demonstrate that Mexico’s macroeconomic stability and investment climate have generated a strong sense of confidence among investors, national and foreign, despite international economic uncertainty.
Additionally, Mexico, in an effort to attract more foreign investment, to generate well-paid jobs and to create highly productive zones, is developing three Special Economic Zones (SEZ) located in the southern part of the country: Puerto Chiapas, Coatzacoalcos and Lazaro Cárdenas-La Unión. These SEZ complement the strengths that make Mexico one of the most attractive investment destinations and represent a unique opportunity for the Chinese business sector to make productive investments in Mexico. For further information visit: http://www.zonaseconomicas.com
Moreover, Mexican authorities have made an unprecedented effort to easily guide foreign investors through the identification, selection and launching of key investment projects in Mexico. Through the website Mexico Projects Hub (http://www.proyectosmexico.gob.mx/en/) potential investors can make a one-stop shop to review strategic information about the Mexican market, available investment projects in all sectors, main actors involved in infrastructure development in Mexico, procedures and regulatory framework, and financing options, among others.
Mexico is a sophisticated economy that offers a positive business environment and a wide range of options to invest. All these factors combined place Mexico in a successful path towards its consolidation as one of the world’s leading emerging and most attractive markets and for Chinese enterprises that are looking for a new market to position their products as well as for an international platform that can facilitate their access to key markets in North America, Latin America, Europe and other regions.
Mexico and China: An even stronger Comprehensive Strategic Partnership
Economic relations between Mexico and China are strategic for both countries. Exchanges between the two countries have registered an unprecedented dynamism during the five years of implementation of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which has triggered a new era of renovated economic exchanges based on a long term vision and on a results-oriented agenda.
China plays a significant role in Mexico’s trade diversification strategy. Today, China is Mexico’s second trading partner with exchanges that reached $81 billion dollars in 2017, 8% more than in 2016. This positive tendency is also present in 2018, since during the first seven months of this year bilateral trade registered a 15% increase when compared to the same period of 2017. China is also the second source of Mexican imports and the forth destination for Mexican exports. At the same time, Mexico has remained the first trading partner for China in the Latin-American and Caribbean region.
Over the past decade, trade between Mexico and China has more than doubled and has become very important for Mexico’s global value chains. Approximately 71% of Mexican imports from China are intermediate goods related to the automobile, electric-electronic and mechanical sectors that Mexican industries transform into final goods that are later exported to other markets round the world.
Mexico’s trade with China is also relevant for its diversity and quality. We trade a wide range of products, from high-quality agri-food products to high value-added manufactures, which shows the profound interest our business sectors have in each other’s markets and the strong economic ties we have been able to develop. Last year, for example, trade in food between Mexico and China surpassed $1 billion dollars, the highest record so far, allowing more than 120 Mexican products to be enjoyed by Chinese consumers, like avocados, beer, tequila and seafood, among many others. Also, in 2017, Mexico become China’s first Latin American car and auto parts provider and China became the fifth destination for Mexican cars and auto parts exports.
In terms of investment, China has positions itself as the 3rd largest Asian investor in Mexico, just behind Japan and South Korea. Emblematic Chinese enterprises such as Lenovo (personal computers); ZTE and Huawei Technologies (telecommunications); BAIC and JAC Motors (vehicles); Minth and Minghua (auto parts); CNOOC, Envision Energy and JinkoSolar (energy); Haier and Hisense (electric-electronics); and ICBC and Bank of China (financial sector) are just a few examples of successful Chinese investments in Mexico. At the same time, some of Mexico’s best and biggest companies are doing fruitful investments in China, like Bimbo (baked-goods); Gruma (corn and wheat products); Softtek (software); Nemak and Metalsa (auto parts); Kuo Group (chemical products) and ICC (ceramic products), among many others.
To propel bilateral investment even further, Presidents Enrique Peña Nieto and Xi Jinping have reiterated during their seven encounters the top priority that bilateral investment entails. As a result, Mexico and China have jointly established a High-Level Working Group on Investment and a Binational Investment Fund with a joined capital of $1.2 billion dollars that has already been put in use, among other initiatives intended to boost strategic partnerships between Mexican and Chinese companies.
Additionally, Mexico and China have made unprecedented efforts to facilitate the interaction between the business sectors of both countries. As a result, today Mexico and China have substantially increased air connectivity with ten flights per week operated by Aeromexico (Mexico City-Shanghai), China Southern (Guangzhou-Mexico City via Vancouver) and Hainan Airlines (Beijing-Mexico City via Tijuana). This strong connectivity consolidates Mexico as China’s gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean.
Through coordinated and systematic efforts, Mexico and China are strengthening and deepening their comprehensive economic agenda. The inclusive, strategic and long-term vision that both countries are jointly implementing to consolidate their economic relationship will open new avenues for collaboration and partnership. Now is the time to explore the many business opportunities that Mexico has to offer.
Mexico is all about incentives
Mexico offers diverse incentives to stimulate FDI in various sectors contributing to the development and growth of many industries within the country. The following programs exemplify the many initiatives that Mexico implements:
Foreign trade related incentives
1. Promotion of Manufactures, Maquila and Export Services Industry Program (IMMEX). Allows temporary imports of goods free of import tax, value added tax and some countervailing duties. Such products must later be used in an industrial process or service to produce, transform or repair foreign goods temporarily imported for its subsequent export or the provision of export services.
2. Sectorial Promotion Program (PROSEC). Specific manufactures may be imported at a preferential ad-valorem tariff as long as they are incorporated and used in the productive process of specific goods.
3. Drawback Program. Promotes the refund of import tax paid for those goods that were later incorporated to export goods; that were sent back in the same condition; or that were repaired or altered.
4. 8th Rule Program. Provides exemption of tariffs on imports of raw materials, parts, components, machinery, equipment and other goods related to production procedures.
5. New Scheme for Certified Enterprises. Simplifies administrative procedures on international trade by reducing the number of inspections and time spent on merchandise crossing; improving security; and facilitating customs procedures.
6. Strategic Bonded Warehouse. Foreign, national or imported goods may be introduced into authorized warehouses for a limited period of time free of import duties or countervailing duties, except for those included in Free Trade Agreements.
Tax related incentives
1. Immediate deduction. Tax deductions apply to labor-intensive, non-polluting and non-intensive use of water projects. The incentive is not available in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara.
2. Federal tax incentives for non-resident companies. Eligible maquila companies are granted a significant reduction in income tax payment.
3. R&D tax credit. Eligible companies can receive a 30% tax credit of their total spending on research and development activities.
Technological development and innovation related incentives
1. Innovation incentives programs. Supports companies that invest in research, innovation and technology development to develop new products, processes, or services.