Mexico Shoe Industry Appeals To The Government To "Enhance Competitiveness Agreement"

In addition to the challenges posed by the large number of cheap Chinese imports of footwear, Mexico's

The major companies in Mexico supported by the Latin American Industry Association (AILA) have asked the Mexico government to provide protection to the footwear industry in the country and abide by its enhanced competitiveness and tariff agreements.

Armando Mart n Due Due as, chairman of the Guanajuato Footwear Industry Association (CICEG), said the footwear industry will launch a large-scale demonstration and propose that a regional alliance should be established to negotiate with China.

The chairman and vice president of the Latin American Industry Association, Mart n Due Due as, Henry Kronfle and Ismael Plascencia Nu n EZ, and the chairman of the Federation of industry and commerce associations (CONCAMIN) of the Republic of Mexico have held a media conference to show their position on the current situation of the footwear industry in the south.

The Mexico government will abolish imports of footwear products imported from China in December 11, 2011.

The above will be one of the central topics of the Latin American footwear forum held in Buenos Aires on 25-26 August.

At the media conference held in Leon in August 10th, Armando Mart n Due as as said the urgent task at present is to set up an industry united front to cope with the difficulties facing the global economy.

The president of the Guanajuato footwear industry association stressed that its chamber of Commerce would give priority to legal action to protect Leon's traditional leather and footwear industry until the federal government of Mexico responded accordingly.

Leather, footwear and accessories industry also put a large-scale demonstration on the agenda, in order to provide support for its appeal.

Henry Kronfle, President of the Latin American Industry Association, also attended the media experience and was conducting an inspection of Latin American countries to understand the various problems facing the industry sector.

He said that in order to deal with the problems currently facing Mexico and Latin America, it is necessary to form alliances between the public sector and the private sector, because only in this way can national development be promoted.

He said that the essence of competition lies in cooperation and complementarity. Only in this way can companies contribute to social development through various output projects.

Kronfle said that micro enterprises are the engines of the national economy. At present, manufacturing enterprises in Latin America have at least 10% quantity gaps, which means that the industrial sector has lost 20% of their employment.

He continued to say that the footwear industry in some countries is suffering from unfair competition because of the import of Chinese footwear products. Therefore, they are planning to set up a regional united front to deal with competition from the Asian market.

He also expressed support for the footwear industry in Mexico to maintain tariffs on imports of footwear from China.

Kronfle pointed out that "the current situation is very difficult. Because of this, we held an entrepreneur meeting in Argentina. Brazil's proposal is that negotiations between China and Latin America should not be confined to countries and countries.

They suggested the signing of a broader agreement, such as Mexico's current agreements with Chile, Columbia and Peru, as well as the whole of Latin America, so that a united front can be formed to tackle the challenges of Asian economies, especially China.

Kronfle finally said he fully supported shoe manufacturers and called on the Mexico government to honor its agreements with the shoe industry.

Ismael Plascencia N EZ, vice president of the Latin American Industry Association, referred to various agreements signed by the footwear industry in Mexico in 2008 and 2009. The agreements mentioned that "the government departments will be committed to reducing the administrative costs faced by enterprises at present, so as to enhance the competitiveness of the industry". In fact, the government has not done this at all. Therefore, the competitiveness of footwear enterprises will continue to decline.

Plascencia Nu n EZ emphasized that these agreements were not specifically for the footwear industry but for the entire industrial sector, and the federal government did not fulfil the commitments made in the agreement document.

The truth is that the government has reduced import duties rather than administrative costs, and everyone must abide by the agreements signed.

Emilio Cano Barrag n, chairman of the Federation of chambers of Commerce in the Brazilian region, suggested that the federal government must be urged to abide by its unfulfilled commitments.

He said, "we need to know that this is not just a matter between the leather, footwear and accessories industry and the federal government, but all industrial sectors in Mexico."

Cano Barrag n expressed support for the footwear industry and said it would be ready to help solve the problem of job losses in Leon.