Baja California’s strategic economic zone second phase
By Adina Moloman
Source: SEDECO, UT San Diego
The creation of the “Border Economic Zone”, AC, a “civil association” that supports the Border economic Zone project, took place at a recent formal ceremony.
Governor Jose Guadalupe Osuna Millan, the mayor of Tijuana, Carlos Bustamante and other officials from Ensenada, Tecate and Rosarito, attended the ceremony.
The plan is also supported by the central government and it consists in customs duty exemptions (lifting of tariffs and import duties) and other incentives for investment in the Maquiladora Industry interested in manufacturing in Mexico.
Opposition to the plan is expected from other industrial regions located in Mexico. However, if implemented, the zone would make Baja California an increasingly competitive location for international business and commerce, and would lift the region’s ease of conducting business rankings significantly. In order to achieve all of these, efforts by federal and state governments to institute policies that will increase economic competitiveness is needed. An academic-public-private partnership at the federal and local level to support local innovation efforts and promote higher value-added activities, high-quality work is being visualized. The results are innovative companies and sectors that should generate high-quality jobs in terms of wages and work conditions.
The Civil Association’s General Assembly consists of all the CCE presidents located in Baja California, Tijuana, Rosarito, Tecate, Ensenada’s mayors and the governor.
There is also a wide support for Baja California’s strategic economic zone from San Diego officials.
During the San Diego/Baja California Mission to Mexico organized by the Mexico Business Center of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce which took place recently, a group of politicians and investors from Baja California-California region such as San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, Tijuana Mayor Carlos Bustamante, and San Diego’s former mayor, Jerry Sanders, now president and CEO of the chamber, officially presented their position of supporting the border economic zone project.
Other issued addressed during the San Diego /Baja California Mission included the planned bi-national airport terminal, green energy projects, cruise ship arrivals in Ensenada and other infrastructure projects that are suppose to increase local competitiveness.
