Andrés Rozental is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations, (Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales), and he is currently a foreign policy advisor to the Mexican Government.

Economic Interests

Mexico's primary objective at the G20 London Summit was to plead for the international community not to be swayed by protectionist sentiment in order to keep vital trading links open and as free as possible. This comes at a time when Mexico, acting quite differently from several other members of the G20, has decided to lower or eliminate tariffs on a whole series of goods as a way of stimulating the domestic economy and making the country more competitive in the global marketplace. With the exception of a bilateral NAFTA dispute with the United States related to trucking, which led Mexico to raise tariffs on several key imports from the US, the Calderón administration has bent over backwards to preach the free trade, anti-protectionist gospel everywhere it can, including at the G20. It is difficult at this stage to judge whether the good intentions expressed in the communiqué will translate into practical measures on the trade liberalization front.

Little or no importance was given in the Mexican media to the additional commitments for developing countries, except for the increase in IMF funding, since Mexico used the G20 meeting to announce that it was the first country to sign up for a $47 billion IMF facility under the Fund's new, non-conditionality scheme.

Political Interests

Mexico's role at the London Summit was rather opaque from the media's point of view. President Calderón spoke about guarding against trade protectionism, appeared in the group photo, etc., but this was somewhat overshadowed by the pomp and circumstance of the state visit to the UK that took place immediately prior to April 2, and the fact that Mexico's president was the only G20 leader to be so honoured. Although now a republic, there is still a vestige of admiration and awe for monarchies and the trappings that go with it. Our media was much more enthralled by the carriages, dinners and events during the state visit than by Calderón's participation in the G20 which, unlike the visit, had to be shared with other, often more popular, leaders.

International Interests

There was little interest in Mexican media in the political importance of the G20 and the country's role as a member of this elite group. This is mainly due to the fact that the preparation for the London Summit (as was the case for the first Washington gathering) was in the hands of the Ministry of Finance and the agenda was mostly technical. There is still no thought being given to the G20 as a forum of leaders that could address other major issues on the global agenda such as climate change, weapons of mass destruction, etc. There is a degree of complacency evident in that Mexico, a member of the G5, the G20, and as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, therefore "sits at all the tables." But there doesn't seem to be an overall strategy on how to maximize Mexico's participation and whether or not to be seen as a "leader" of the developing world as are Brazil, India and perhaps South Africa.

Global Leadership

Here, too, Mexican media was not particularly interested in the global aspects of the summit. Much of the coverage focused on the Obama phenomenon and the various bilateral meetings between the US president and the Chinese president, Russian president, and other country leaders. No mention was made of the decision to hold another G20 Summit in the fall in New York, nor of the various geometries that have been discussed relating to a more permanent institutional architecture for global governance. Therefore, I don't think that Mexican public opinion has focused on how the G20 can place the country at the forefront of global leadership, perhaps also as a result of the economic crisis affecting us at the moment, and the problems in our bilateral relationship with the United States.

Mexico City