Embassy opened

Press, 25 August 1983, Page 3

Embassy opened

NZPA staff correspondent Mexico City The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Maclntyre, opened New Zealand’s new embassy in Mexico City yesterday with a Maori greeting. Maori-Spanish interpreters are hard to come by in Mexico’s capital, and Mr Maclntyre explained, in English, the significance of the welcome as he opened New Zealand’s newest “meeting house.” The embassy, on the eighth floor of a down-town high-rise building, was packed for the opening.

The Government was represented by a senior Foreign Ministry official, and many Mexican businessmen trading with New Zealand were there too.

So too were a substantial number of New Zealand businessmen. Some, members of the Mexico-New Zealand Business Council, had flown from New Zealand especially for the opening and to take advantage of the doors Mr Maclntyre has been opening as he has talked to senior Government Ministers. Others flew in. from their

bases in the United States or other Central American countries.

Mr Maclntyre has held detailed discussions with Mexican Ministers on agriculture, fishing, trade, and co-operation. The Mexican Fisheries Minister, Mr Pedro Ojeda Paullada, showed interest in learning from New Zealand experience in fishing for squid, Mr Maclntyre said. The Agriculture and Water Resources Minister, Mr Horacio Garcia Aguilar, recognised that New Zealand cattle, sheep, and grass seed imported to Mexico had proved successful, he said, and talks were now taking place on importing live embryos from New Zealand, and also milk protein and Cheddar cheese. The Mexican Minister pointed out that the main obstacle to increasing imports from New Zealand, now running about $45 million a ‘year, was the state of the Mexican economy, which has cut imports to bare essentials.

Mr Garcia Aguilar also asked whether New Zealand could increase imports from Mexico, which last year totalled less than $5 million,

Mr Maclntyre said. He had replied that New Zealand was looking at the possibility of importing Mexican oil and phosphates at some stage, and that a New Zealand group was interested in buying tractors from Mexico. The two Ministers also discussed New Zealand’s radiata pine technology. A Mexican newspaper reported that Mr Garcia Aguilar had pointed out that Mexican products which New Zealand could well import included coffee, cocoa, oranges, mangos, oil, lemon essence, machinery, and agricultural implements.

Mr Aguilar indicated to Mr Maclntyre that Mexico was interested in acquiring New Zealand technology and expertise, especially in grassland management and milk products, noting that Mexico needed to increase its milk production, said the newspaper, “Excelsior.” (One reason for the lack of milk, it appears, is that the price of milk is controlled, but the price of cheese is not. The dairy companies therefore tend to' turn the milk into cheese for a bigger profit.)