Mexico rules out privatisation of oil & gas industry

New Delhi, May 21: Mexico Minister of Economy Eduardo Sojo today ruled out privatisation of oil and gas industry in his country but invited private participation once regulations are in place.

''We will not privatise the oil and gas sector,'' he stated categorically in reply to a question by a representative of Essar Group which has been exploring avenues abroad for investment in the hydrocarbon business.

However, the Mexican Minister, who earlier along with Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, oversaw signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between business bodies of the two countries, revealed that National Development Plan for next six years was being drawn in respect of the oil and gas business.

''We are trying to put in place regulations for private participation in the business.'' But at the same time, he said privatisation of the hydrocarbon sector is a very senstive issue in Mexico and hence ruled it out.

While co-sharing optimism with the Indian Minister in Goldman Sachs' forecast of India and Mexico emerging as world's third and fifth largest economy respectively in 2040, the Mexican Minister invited India's corporates to invest in his country's growth story, adding that Mexico has been, on an average, receiving 20 billion dollars at foreign direct investment (FDI) for the last six years.

Dr Sojo said Mexico with annual export and import of 250 billion dollars can become a springboard for Indian companies looking for opportunities in both North and South Americas.

''We are a stable economy with 4 per cent growth rate .... we are also one of the lowest risks economies.'' The Mexican Minister, however, did not comment on achieving the target of 3 billion dollars by 2010, a ten-fold increase in the bilateral trade from 300 million dollars, as suggested by CII's president-designate Sunil Bharti.

Earlier, Mr Bharti, CMD of Bharti Enterprises, signed the MoU with Mr Jose Luis Uriegas, president of India-Mexico Business Chamber. The MoU aims at promoting private investment in the two countries.

The Mexican Minister also remained tight-lipped over Indian Minister's exhortation that Mexico's economy should become Asia-centric instead of United States-centric as is the case now. Mr Kamal Nath, on the other hand, said the target of taking the bilateral trade to 3 billion dollars is not difficult to achieve. He said Mexico can be India's major trade partner as the latter's exports are just half of Mexico's at 125 billion dollars.

While stating that a high-level trade group to be set up as part of the MoU signed today will look at ways and means to give impetus to bilateral trade, the Minister said Indian government could also consider giving preferential treatment to trading with Mexico which he described as gateway to Latin America. Since 1997 when India started focussing on it, her trade with South Americas has grown upto 550 million dollars.

Meanwhile, the Mexican Minister said the two countries can participate in the agriculture sector in a positive way as 20 per cent of Mexican population is still dependent on agri-allied sector.

He said both India and Mexico need to increase productivity and it requires better technolgy and they can cooperate in a significant way.

UNI