MEXICO CITY: With a dozen scissor snips, the ProMexico ribbon was cut, and the Phoenix trade office for the Mexican government officially opened.
A gathering of dignitaries, including Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, joined Mexico’s Consul General Roberto Rodriguez Hernandez and ProMexico First Secretary and Director Eduardo de Leon Gonzalez Diaz to open the economic development office at the Mexican Consulate, 320 E. McDowell Road.
“We have twisted arms and worked hard for years to reach this day,” said Stanton. “(Phoenix) cannot achieve its goals as a city without a close political and economic association and friendship with Mexico. We are two communities with one heart.”
ProMexico, the Mexican equivalent of Arizona Commerce Authority, will be reaching out into the Arizona business community to stimulate cross-border trade and partnerships. Just as the ACA and city of Phoenix trade office in Mexico city is designed to connect Arizona business with partners, suppliers and buyers in Mexico, ProMexico will represent Mexican businesses in finding partners, suppliers and buyers in Arizona.
Consul General Rodriguez told the crowd that the office is a commitment going beyond the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“We want to increase trade with Arizona,” he said. “Right now we have $8.6 billion in trade between Arizona and Mexico, we want to increase that substantially.”
Arizona exports to Mexico account for more than 40 percent of the state’s total export volume of $21 billion last year. There is bipartisan support for economic expansion wrapping Arizona and Sonora, the Mexican state immediately south, into an economic mega-region. A new emphasis is being placed on expanding Arizona’s economic reach into Gonzalez’s last posting, Baja California, the Mexican state adjoining Sonora and Arizona to the west.
Gonzalez touted a newly signed deal between Embry-Riddle College in Prescott and colleges in Mexico to cross train students in aerospace and defense opportunities.
“There is no reason we cannot capture the aerospace business on both sides of the border,” he said, referencing a recent outflow of California companies into Baja California and Sonora. “We can create more and better jobs connecting our companies.”
Boeing Co., Honeywell Inc. and Raytheon, major aerospace corporations, already have large presences in all three states.
EU Fears Offer To US Not Enough To End Trade Row
Brussels,:The EU's own top trade official warned Tuesday that the bloc's last-ditch bid to persuade US President Donald Trump to...