President Xi agrees to form new strategic partnership with Mexico on Latin American visit

President Xi Jinping and his Mexican counterpart vowed to work jointly to access international markets, like the lucrative United States, as part of a new strategic partnership.

Xi is beginning the second day of a three-day visit to the Latin American economic powerhouse, which will include a speech before Mexico's congress.

After meeting privately on Tuesday, Xi and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said they were transforming the relationship into a "strategic partnership" and taking steps to move toward balancing their trade, now heavily in favour of China.

The leaders signed 12 memorandums of understanding and co-operation agreements in areas, including energy, mining, education and infrastructure.

"Today, we are giving way to a new relationship, a new phase of the relationship," Pena Nieto said in a joint statement.

"We expect to broaden investments of Chinese capital in our country," Pena Nieto said, a move that will create more jobs and make Mexico "an important platform for exports to the countries with which we have free-trade agreements."