Mexican Government Brings Home Global Business

There are manufacturing companies that know Mexico is the place that they have to be to access their key customers, suppliers and markets. They’ve done their research and have found an ample, educated and stable workforce, proximity to the United States and ease of shipping elsewhere (Mexico has free trade agreements that cover forty-four nations); and hundreds of companies, foreign and domestic, to assist in and supply every facet of manufacturing operations that they establish in Mexico.

Just in case that they haven’t collected enough industrial site selection information, just in case there are doubts or word hasn´t gotten out, a small army within Mexico´s Secretary of Economy (Secretaría de Economía) sees to it that no manufacturing company considering the location of a production facility in Mexico is left behind.

These traveling polyglot Mexican trade ambassadors are from ProMéxico, a five-year-old department established by Presidential decree and based in Mexico City, with trade offices worldwide.

ProMéxico´s mandate is to promote direct foreign investment in Mexico and the export of goods and services, as well as " promulgate the internationalization of Mexican companies" in order to contribute to the nation´s economic and social development

The agency schools employees and unpaid apprentices that the name "Mexico" is to be "recognized in the world as ´The Opportunity´. Recruits are told, "(T)he name of Mexico´ will be in your hands, implying, carrying and representing it with pride." ProMéxico staff is taught to encourage, "More Mexico in the World and More World in Mexico.

Interested in exploring a renewable energy project in Durango? An avionics plant in the Guaymas, Sonora aerospace cluster? An electronics assembly facility in Guadalajara? A phone call or email to the ProMéxico office nearest you brings a quick immediate response

ProMéxico just announced that during 2011 it surpassed its goal to attract investment and increase exports. According to year-end data, direct foreign in Mexico was $13.52 billion, a 27% from the year before. Mexican exports jumped to $6.88 billion, a 24% increase over the previous year.

Carlos Guzmán Bofill, CEO of ProMéxico, said in a January interview that ProMéxico had reached during 2011 into automotive and auto parts, energy, tourism, logistics and infrastructure, mining, chemical, electric-electronics, aerospace, services, biotechnology, oil and petrochemical industries. ProMéxico recruited from United States, Japan, Spain, South Korea, Canada, Germany, Portugal, Taiwan, France, Chile, China and Colombia, among other countries. Locations of new plants, in turn, were announced for the following states: Baja California, Guanajuato, Sonora, Zacatecas, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Mexico City, Quintana Roo, Colima, Estado de México, Jalisco, Hidalgo, Coahuila, Veracruz, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Chihuahua and Aguascalientes.

In the export realm, Mexican goods were sold mainly in the U.S., Colombian, Japanese, Brazilian, Guatemalan, Canadian, Russian, Venezuelan, Spanish, Dutch and German markets.

ProMéxico granted support and services in 2011 to more than 4,000 companies, Just under half of those firms were small and medium-sized businesses. In 2012, ProMéxico said it aspires to attract 110 projects that, in total, will account for direct foreign investment in Mexico of approximately $14 billion. This year, ProMéxico is planning to coordinate a Mexican pavilion at 41 trade shows abroad including Intersolar (Germany, renewable energies), Farnborough (United Kingdom, aerospace) and AAPEX (US, automotive).

Visit ProMéxico’s website. Its headquarters is Camino a Santa Teresa 1679, Col. Jardines del Pedregal del. Álvaro Obregón, in the Federal District. Telephone is (52) 55 5447 7070. An inverstment guide ideal for those exploring manufacturing in Mexico is available for download on the from the ProMéxico website.