Foreign Minister Cho Hyun meets Mexican counterpart, calls FTA talks 'essential'

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and visiting Mexican Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco Alvarez held talks Monday and discussed resuming bilateral free trade agreement negotiations and ways to protect Korean companies amid the ongoing review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cho and Velasco met for two and a half hours beginning at 11 a.m., including a working lunch, covering ways to strengthen cooperation across economic, advanced industry and cultural sectors. Velasco chose South Korea as his first destination in Asia since taking office.

Cho said Mexico is South Korea's largest trade and investment partner in Latin America and that Korean companies have continued to make large-scale investments there. "For this momentum to accelerate, resuming bilateral FTA negotiations is essential," he said. He also asked Mexico to take Korean companies' concerns into account during its USMCA review, and proposed discussions on revising the bilateral investment protection agreement and concluding a social security agreement.

Velasco acknowledged the contributions of Korean companies and said Mexico would give full consideration to South Korea's interests regarding the USMCA. The two sides also agreed to expand imports of Mexican crude oil and to pursue cooperation in future industries including AI, digital transformation, space and defense.

The ministers agreed to strengthen cultural exchanges and multilateral cooperation under MIKTA, and said they would work closely to advance President Lee Jae Myung's planned visit to Mexico — a follow-up to a summit phone call held in May.