“We Seek to Strengthen Political Ties with Iran,” Insists Mexico’s Ambassador.

A soil of culture and celebration, Mexico’s embassy in Iran is characterized with many cultural programs it holds in Tehran every month in addition to the vast wealth of political and economic consultations it conducts, which brought us back to Mexico’s Ambassador, Mr. Ulises Canchola Gutierrez, once again to gain awareness of what has been carried out in Iran.

AVA Diplomatic’s Exclusive Interview with Ulises Canchola Gutierrez, Mexico’s Ambassador in Iran.

Interview by Mohammadreza Nazari

It has been 2 months since we conducted the last interview. During this time, what have been the most important services of the embassy of Mexico?

I thank you for your interest on this matter. In these 2 months, we held tightly-scheduled cultural programs and visited some of Iran’s academic centers. As you may have heard, a poster exhibition was held inside the embassy which showed the works of well-known Mexican artists and served also as a way to show the commonalities between Iranian and Mexican graphic art. Also, a conference to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the birth of the Mexican Nobel Literature Price, Octavio Paz, was held in addition to our participation in Tehran’s 27^th Book Fair. We also donated books about the history and architecture of Mexico to the University of Tehran. Just recently, we had an exhibition of Tina Modotti´s photographs at Tehran University. Photography is one of those things the Iranians are pretty good at and is one of the ways through which Mexico’s culture can be introduced.

Do you have any plans to invite Mexican painters and artists to Iran?

I am working on it, especially now that I have had the opportunity to bear witness of the great interest that Mexican artists gather in the exhibitions that we have organized so far.

Besides the artistic field, there seems to be fertile ground to keep enhancing academic exchange programmes. Recently students of two different Mexican universities participated in the Robocop Competitions in Qazvin University. I have followed up on that visit and got in touch with the authorities of this important academic center. We are already working on common initiatives to foster cooperation (by way of organizing reciprocal visits between Mexican and Qazvin universities). I have already scheduled visits to Alamé University and to Sharif Industrial University.

Why don’t you invite Mexican directors to Iran to make a movie here?

I like that idea, but we will need to work a little bit more before. Mexico and Iran share more than a century of bilateral contacts, but we still need to get each other known better. Enhancing our bilateral cultural exchanges is really the way to fill this gap and producing a movie either in Mexico or Iran could be a very nice initiative to bring us closer. By the way, I am meeting with an Iranian producer next week who has signaled his interest to work on a film in our country.

Do you have any plans for cooperating with other embassies of Mexico in the region to enjoy their cultural capacities?

We normally coordinate through our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So, if there is any exhibition or cultural activity that will be organized by any of our embassies, we can always ask for including Iran in the tour. We have done that in the past. The photo exhibition “Imágenes de México” that we presented in early January first in Isfahan and then in Tehran is scheduled to travel also to Lebanon.

Considering the wide range of the cultural activities Mexico’s embassy is invested in, do you not have any plans to lead the Latin American countries in Tehran in this area?

Indeed, we are very keen on promoting Mexican culture, but we are also very keen on collaborating with other countries, especially from Latin America. By way of example, the Latinamerican embassies in Tehran put together the I Biennial Exhibit of Latinamerican Photography in Iran which was presented at the Melal Cultural Centre. Within a bigger group, that of the Iberoamerican countries, we have been talking about the possibility of organizing a collective cultural event, probably in the area of literature. That is still in the drawing board.

So, as you see we don’t intend to display ourselves as a leader to other countries, for we seek no rivalry.

But competition is of the essence in such fields and can incentivize different parties accordingly.

I understand, but cultural activities are not based on competition. In Mexico, cultural activities hinge on two principles: 1- to create more interaction with our target societies, and 2- to introduce Mexico’s rich culture. Why we are involved in all these cultural activities is because most of the time ordinary people do not even know where Mexico is located on the map!

What have your most important political activities been during these 2 months?

Well, so far I have managed to present credentials both to President Rohani in Iran and President Hussain in Pakistan (I still have four more to go!). Regarding Iran, I have held several meetings with the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MPs, the Speaker of the Parliament, and the Ministries of Oil and Economy of Iran. In all those, we not only  concluded that both sides are pretty much interested in expanding commercial, political and cultural relations, but we have already laid the ground for concrete activities. So far, one delegation of Mexican Senators has visited Tehran and another is coming for early July. A high-ranking officer of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also visited Tehran in order to prepare the visit of our Deputy Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs. In the days to come I will receive a delegation of ProMexico, the agency of the Mexican government that deals with promoting commerce, trade and investment. So, although two months are not a lot of time, we have already drew a critical route to follow and we have already began to implement it. We are moving.

What achievement did you reach after your meeting with the Speaker of the Parliament?

It was very much fruitful. We inspected deep into the bilateral relations of Iran and Mexico and also talked about the upcoming plans we could pursue.

Did Mr. Larijani ask for something special from you?

It was more like exchanging views about the matters in Syria, terrorism and extremism.

Seems to me that your political meetings have not been purposeful; why?

The main purpose has been to introduce myself as the new Mexican ambassador in Iran. I need to get to know the main high-ranking officials, make their acquaintance and from there on carry on with the specifics of our bilateral dialogue.

You met with authorities in the Minister of Oil, too. How did that meeting go?

Indeed, I met the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Oil. It was a very productive meeting. We identified several aspects where Mexico and Iran could be working in the future. Both countries are going through modifications or reforms in their energy sectors. For one, Mexico has passed new legislation that would boost our oil production in the medium-term. Iran has been implementing changes of its own in its oil industry. Both countries could engage in a dialogue to exchange experiences and share their forecasts for the oil industry. Not less important is the experience that Mexico has had on negotiating agreements on the exploitation of transboundary natural resources. This has attracted the attention of the Iranian authorities as well.

Was there any agreement signed?

No, there wasn’t. Representatives of both energy ministries would need to sit and talk directly. That will happen in the coming months either here or in Mexico, or in the framework of the international meetings that are in the agenda. In that regard, the Ministerial meeting of the International Energy Forum in Moscow next month could be a good opportunity.

Are Iran-Mexico ties supposed to go complicated?

I assure you they are not.

Is Mexico waiting for sanctions to be lifted to revive its trades with Iran?

No. We are not waiting for anything special to happen to expand relations with Iran. We are specifically looking for consolidating our bilateral ties and expanding our political dialogue, especially when we are about to celebrate our 50^th Anniversary of formal diplomatic relations. A scenario where sanctions are lifted would definitely help us all but we are not waiting until they are gone to signal our interest in increasing our bilateral trade.

When is it due to be held?

We are working on it and have planned to design a stamp for this occasion in Mexico. It is also possible to create such chance for both countries to mark such an event. I repeat we are not waiting for anything special to happen to expand relations with Iran, for there is no barrier at all to lift between us.

What are your plans for the future? Can you promise us anything to happen within the next two months? Can we ask about it later?

There is a lot to come, and one of them will be due on September and October. Then, we have planned to hold a periodic display of Mexican movies in Iran. We are also organizing a “Mexican Day” at one of the universities I have already referred to previously.

Who are scheduled to travel to Iran for that fest?

Since it will be just showing the films, this time we are not thinking of bringing any Mexican producer, director or any actor.