Visit of President Pratibha Patil from India to Mexico is defined as "historic"

President Pratibha Patil, on her visit to Mexico, has said that Indian investments into Mexico have been growing steadily and that now India looks forward with enthusiasm on the part of Mexican investors to enter the Indian market. Patil during ceremonial reception at Los Pianos, the Presidential House, hosted by Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday said,“There are tremendous opportunities in the areas of infrastructure and tourism in India which can be exploited by Mexican entrepreneurs. We welcome investments being made by Mexican companies in India.”

In her banquet speech, the President further said that the democratic yearning of both the countries, faith in non-violence and dialogue, the pluralistic and secular credentials of policies make the two countries natural allies in facing the global challenges of today.

The President expressed hope that the India-Mexico High Level Group on Trade, Investment and Economic Cooperation will meet in June 2008 to draw up a roadmap for the rapid development of trade and economic relationship between the two countries.

Speaking on a privileged partnership agreed between the two countries, she said it is based not just on our commonalties in the past, “but on the vision that we share for the future for our bilateral relations and also for the world.”

On the occasion, India and Mexico signed agreements in energy and aviation sectors. India's Minister of State for Non-Conventional Energy Sources Vilas Muttemwar signed the agreement with Mexican secretary of Energy Georgina Kessel.

Mexico City, April 17: President Pratibha Patil, who arrived last night in Mexico on a three-day visit, is unpleasantly surprised to find herself in familiar territory.

Mexico’s parliament, which the President was to address today, has been paralysed, under siege by Left legislators for a week and Patil was forced to cancel her much-anticipated address to its joint session.

A few hours before Patil’s arrival in Mexico City, Left legislators forced ruling party members of the senate and the chamber of deputies to flee the parliament building and seek refuge in a cramped auditorium here to hold a 20-minute meeting, which local newspapers described as “symbolic”.

Patil’s sense of deja vu over the predicament of her Mexican hosts is on two tracks.

On the one hand, she has seen India’s Parliament similarly paralysed frequently during her career in politics. On the other, far away from home, even half-way round the globe, Patil has no respite from the Left’s attempts to stymie governments which seek to promote economic reform.

Mexican legislators have paralysed their parliament to protest against President Felipe Calderon’s plans to raise the private sector’s share in oil exploration and production. National ownership of oil wealth is an emotive issue in Mexico since then President Lazaro Cardenas nationalised oil industry in 1938.

Most Mexicans see national ownership of oil as a symbol of their country’s sovereignty, much like the Left in India sees in the Indo-US nuclear deal an erosion of Indian sovereignty.

The Left here is determinedly championing that sentiment and Patil is paying a price for the group’s actions here during her visit.

According to Mexican newspapers, Left legislators last night offered a compromise by way of a temporary suspension of their takeover of the parliament to allow Patil to address them, but some constituents of the coalition that is opposing oil sector liberalisation vetoed the suspension.

The cancellation of the President’s address to a joint session of the Mexican legislature comes close on the heels of confusion over the nature of her interaction with legislators in Brazil two days ago.

The Brazilians were so enthusiastic about the Indian President’s state visit that during the planning stage, they proposed separate meetings for her in both Houses of Brazil’s bicameral legislature.

That could not be fitted into her crowded 24-hour programme in Brasilia. Brazil’s new ambassador in New Delhi, Marco Antonio Diniz Brand, told Indian journalists accompanying Patil that in accordance with the convention in his country, leading legislators from different parties were then invited to interact with her in both Houses.

Brand said that accounted for the small number of legislators who were present during her visit to the parliament in Brasilia.

What is puzzling, however, about the cancellation of Patil’s address to the parliament in Mexico is that the country’s legislature has been under siege before the President left New Delhi for Latin America.

Mexico itself has been experiencing uncertainties since Left leader Andres Manuel Lepez Obrador lost the presidential election in 2006 to Calderon by a tiny margin and his followers accused Calderon of stealing the election.

An event such as the last-minute cancellation of Patil’s address to the parliament should, therefore, have been anticipated and not scheduled at all to avoid awkwardness on both sides.

Pratibha Patil’s address to Mexican Parliament cancelled

MEXICO CITY: Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday described the visit of President Pratibha Patil to Mexico as “historic” and said it would carry the “privileged partnership” between the two countries to new heights. The visit would consolidate the presence of India as a whole in the region, he added.

The two sides later signed agreements on technical and scientific cooperation in Renewable Energy and on Air Services.

He was speaking at a ceremonial reception accorded to Ms. Patil at Los Pinos, the official residence of the President. However, President Patil’s address to the joint session of the Mexican Parliament was cancelled late on Wednesday night in the face of a standoff between President Calderon’s National Action Party (PAN) and the Left-led opposition Democratic Revolution Party on the government’s energy reforms bill.

In an unprecedented move, both houses of Congress were held in an alternative auditorium in view of the ‘dharna’ in the House.

Ms. Patil’s address was called off after late night talks between the ruling party and the Opposition failed to reach an agreement on allowing the House to run. The Democratic Revolution Party accuses Mr. Calderon’s party of trying to force a bill that allows foreign companies a larger role in the oil sector.

Warm reception

None of this, however, marred the warm, ceremonial reception to Ms. Patil. Several school children added colour and gaiety to the occasion as they waved Indian and Mexican flags. President Patil inspected a guard of honour.

Mr. Calderon said open communication would address bilateral and multilateral issues in a “constructive and positive” way. Both countries were now ready for greater exchange in education and for greater partnership in the G-8 group.

Ms. Patil opened her brief address with a greeting in Spanish that brought smiles to the faces of President Calderon and his wife Margarita Zavala. She said India and Mexico faced common challenges for which solutions would have to be found in political governance rooted in plural democracy. “Our over-riding challenge is inclusive growth, not simply growth.”

President Patil later paid homage at the National Heroes Memorial. She later attended a state banquet in her honour and a reception hosted by Indian ambassador in Mexico Rinzing Wangdi. The two Presidents also held bilateral talks.

She will be in Mexico till Sunday.