Mexican and Canadian business leaders launch Canada-Mexico Business Summit

Preparing joint report for Canada-Mexico High-Level Economic Dialogue

Last week, business leaders from Canada and Mexico met in Montreal and agreed to launch a Canada-Mexico Business Summit – an annual forum to increase bilateral trade and investment. The Summit will convene business leaders from both countries, on an annual basis, and will serve as the private sector counterpart to the effort launched last month by both governments to promote the bilateral relationship – the Canada-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue (HLED).

During the HLED meeting, the two Governments asked the Consejo Mexicano de Negocios (Mexican Business Council) and the Business Council of Canada to produce a joint report on private sector partnerships with actionable recommendations, and to identify priority sectors for pilot programming.

This week, the business leaders discussed a draft report to be presented later this year to the two governments.

“Mexico is a vitally important economic partner for Canada, even if the relationship seldom gets the attention it deserves,” said Victor Dodig, Chair of the Business Council of Canada (BCC). “The BCC has a long history of working closely with the Consejo Mexicano de Negocios on trilateral North American issues, together with our partners in the United States. But it’s equally important for us to focus on the Canada-Mexico relationship.”

“Mexican and Canadian business leaders have engaged on a serious effort to identify specific actions we could implement or promote to forge a stronger relationship between both countries,” said Antonio Del Valle Perochena, President of the Consejo Mexicano de Negocios. “The objective is to continue advancing in the strategic alignment of the North American economies. Increased trade and investment is the key to ensuring a better quality of life for all North Americans.”

Business Council of Canada
Founded in 1976, the Business Council of Canada is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization representing business leaders in every region and sector of the country. The Council’s member companies employ 1.7 million Canadians, contribute the largest share of federal corporate taxes, and are responsible for most of Canada’s exports, corporate philanthropy, and private-sector investments in research and development. Through supply chain partnerships, service contracts and mentoring programs, Business Council members support many hundreds of thousands of small businesses and entrepreneurs in communities of all sizes, in every part of Canada.

Consejo Mexicano de Negocios
The Mexican Business Council (Consejo Mexicano de Negocios) is a civil association founded in 1962 and is made up of 59 Mexican business leaders committed to promoting the social welfare and economic development of Mexico. For more than 50 years, the Council has maintained an open and continuous dialogue with representatives of the government, civil society, academia, and other business organizations, to work together for the benefit of Mexico. Its purpose is to promote the prosperity of Mexico to build a fair, free and inclusive country. CMN companies operate in more than 80 countries, employ more than 2 million people and invest more than 30 billion USD globally each year.