Column: Binational Perspective
For more than 40 years I’ve been managing business between the US and Mexico, the conditions have never been in place with so much potential to take the border region from Matamoros-Brownsville to San Diego-Tijuana, few of us consider this scenario to be very positive during the presidential campaigns. from Mexico and the USA, I remember that I even made a bet with El Mexicano newspaper director about Trump becoming President and achieving a unique relationship with Mexico and with the then-called danger to Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, one from the Right-wing and the other from the Left-wing.
Well, it is the best neighborhood relationship that we have had between both sides of the border, without a doubt! The fact is that today, before this global health challenge, instead of constantly lamenting, many of us are considering taking advantage of the trap that political interests have imposed on us, since it is a good time to change, see ourselves on the board and reinvent ourselves in a personal level, in business organizations, and in government: more work, fewer politics, especially.
A good example is what we have proposed to unite our local forces, I mean, to make a common front for retention and attraction of investment to what the Mayor of Yuma, Douglas Nichols, calls “Four Corners”, the Mayor of San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, Santos Gonzalez Yescas, calls it Binational Economic Hub.
Imperial County agrees, and the President of the Industrial Development Commission of Mexicali, Rodolfo Andrade, also agrees, to develop a key area between the four municipalities, four states and, between two nations, to make it more attractive under a single front program to manage the investment. Remember that Mexicali is the Motor City and we can achieve more by being united.
In San Diego, they created a Mega-Region that, in the first place, is not Mega, it is only San Diego – Tijuana, and which, sometimes, includes the Imperial Valley, but the true Mega Region is the Western United States and Mexico with an economy of 4 Trillion USA dollars, and with a population of more than 70 million that includes Baja California, Sonora, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Washington, Oregon and of course California, WOW! What a market! and you’re right next to the neighbors, this is indeed a Mega-Region!
Well, today we have a President Trump who knows how to generate, and in fact, not in words, as before, business and economy in general, I recommend reading his book and analyzing his 3 years of generating economy, without passion or political demagoguery. It is convenient for us that he is reelected, it is the brown vote, especially from our border, a very important one.
I share with you when I had the great opportunity to greet him, I mentioned Calexico and he smiled with pleasure. President López Obrador, for his part, feels grateful to Trump and is eradicating the corruption that has been the bottleneck of Mexican society.
In addition, this Ellie Burgueño’s media that continues to weave cross-border links and must be an investment attraction link, the only thing I can suggest to her is avoiding too much information on the virus because we should not waste time on it. Yes, we must take care of ourselves, but our focus now should be more on how to generate ECONOMY!
-Xavier Rivas
Participated in the original NAFTA agreement, was a co-founder of the National Association of Industrial Parks AMPIP, he was also co-founder and president of INDEX (the Maquiladora Association), as well as CDI founder (Commission for Industrial Development), he’s a former commissioner for Minority Affairs of the State of Nevada, and current vice president of PIMSA Industrial Park www.pimsa.com.mx email: xavier@rivas.com