India, Mexico to sign Extradition Treaty

New Delhi, Sept 7 (UNI) India and Mexico will sign Extradition Treaty, on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and an agreemeent on Avoidance of Double Taxation during the upcoming four-day State visit of Mexican President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa here from September 9 to 12.

Mr. Hinojosa, who will be here at the invitation of President Pratibha Patil, will be accompanied by his Foreign Minister, the Minister of Economy, a large official delegation and a business delegation of over 100 members.

President Calderon will have meetings with the President and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on September 10. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Leader of the Opposition L K Advani and and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi will also call on President Calderon.

The visiting dignitary will address a business meeting being organised by CII, FICCI and ASSOCHAM the same day.

He will also visit Bangalore and Mumbai on September 11.

A high-level Working Group on Trade, Investment and Cooperation has been set up to study ways and means of facilitating and promoting trade and investment. The first meeting of the Group will take place here on September 10.

An External Affairs Ministry spokesman said relations between India and Mexico were now being re-energised and cooperation was being expanded covering areas such as science and Technology, agriculture, trade, investment, culture, education and small and medium industries.

The bilateral cooperation was reviewed by a Joint Commission which held its last meeting in October 2005 and the next one was due in Mexico in early 2008.

Trade between India and Mexico had been growing rapidly in recent years. In 2006, bilateral trade was 1.8 billion Dollars, of which 1.1 billion Dollars were India's exports and 0.7 billion Dollars imports.

Engineering goods, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, gem and jewellery and textiles are the main exports of India while crude oil accounts for 90 per cent of the imports from Mexico.

UNI