US-Mexico CEO Dialogue: Claudia Sheinbaum’s new path to attracting investment

In the recent meeting with 60 private sector leaders with President Sheinbaum, the challenges in trade and investment matters were analyzed

The fourteenth edition of the meeting between American and Mexican businessmen entitled: US-Mexico CEO Dialogue, brought together more than 60 private sector leaders last week in Mexico City to talk about the “challenges and opportunities” in trade and investment matters that the business sector can find in the portfolio of opportunities of the new federal administration headed by Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.

This meeting was the first bilateral event of the new president after assuming the leadership of the federal executive. The ceremony was attended by members of the federal cabinet, among which were: Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary of Economy; Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Secretary of Foreign Affairs; Rogelio Ramírez de la O, Secretary of Finance; Luz Elena González, Secretary of Energy; David Kershenobich, Secretary of Health; and Julio Berdegué, Secretary of Agriculture.

The dialogue between CEOs of Mexico and the United States was created in 2013 by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States (U.S Chamber of Commerce) and the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) and had among its priorities, to focus its analysis agenda on five topics: investment, trade facilitation, trade policy, climate change and services and energy.

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In turn, it should be noted that this binational meeting took place amid concerns from some North American rating agencies and investors regarding the reform of the judicial branch, which was recently approved by the Congress of the Union on Mexican soil and in the run-up to the review of the Trade Agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC).

This was the perfect occasion to dispel doubts and clarify misunderstandings that have surrounded the direction of the business climate in Mexico for the years to come. This is reflected in the statements of the first national leader:

“The great challenge that the President has with the CEO Dialogue is to generate confidence in American and Mexican investors that there are conditions for them to invest in Mexico, that the law will protect them, that there is a strategy to improve security and that there will also be clean energy.

”In addition to the factors mentioned above, security is also another component that worries and occupies the federal government and on which, according to the new security strategy presented a few days ago, action has already been taken on the matter; however, time will pass before positive results can be seen regarding this series of actions that will be implemented to try to pacify the country.

But perhaps the most fascinating part of the topics addressed in this meeting was the analysis of the conditions to promote the attraction of investment and development of the value chains of North America, with the aim of increasing national content and decreasing imports from Asia, mainly from China in North America.

Likewise, the leaders of both countries demonstrated their deep interest in participating in the field of investments aimed at facilitating cross-border trade, developing protocols to ensure the flow of goods at checkpoints, reducing costs and waiting times, which means, in general terms, being part of the investment in new border infrastructure and the digitalization of fiscal and analytical processes of merchandise.

As a third topic, the businessmen talked about energy policies that allow regional competitiveness and the relocation of investments, or nearshoring. Finally, the federal government authorities spoke about digitalization and financing services for small and medium-sized companies, through financial inclusion and the Internet for All program led by the Federal Electricity Commission (an area in which American investors showed a lot of interest).

Regarding the importance of energy security and the significance of sufficiency in this area on the part of Mexico, the statements of the new Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, were specific:

“What Mexico is doing in its constitution in terms of energy is what the US and Europe are doing. We have to work together so that Mexico has the energy it needs to grow in the next six years.

”And that is precisely the main path on which the Mexican portfolio of services and investments is oriented; that of the increase in development poles through the consolidation of industrial corridors, which the president of the republic, Claudia Scheinbaum, had already referred to in her inaugural speech. It is about distributing economic growth at a national level, through distribution routes and the generation of various products and services through the rational use of natural resources, in favor of the creation of better business conditions throughout Mexico.

This model of economy of scale, Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum, has described it as shared growth and it is nothing other than a rationalization of growth, through the construction of an ecosystem of services and new technologies, which help to give greater performance to the development poles that are proposed to be installed throughout the Mexican Republic.

The idea is simple and practical, of the investment portfolio, whether in: energy, services, infrastructure, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, among other areas, the main objective is to highlight that it is open to anyone interested in investing responsibly and continuously in any of these sectors.

In this sense, some announcements have already been made, with companies such as: Pacific Mexico, Royal Caribbean; as well as Amazon, which will invest close to 20 billion dollars in 2025, in the national territory.

With this kind of meetings and communications, the confidence in the profitability of the Mexican economy and its tendency to sustained growth during the following years shows that its potential is gaining strength and is quite attractive on the regional and international stage. The talent of national authorities to continue strengthening binational and even intercontinental ties will be the most important component to finally shore up the vigor of the Mexican economy.

Nota publicada originalmente en el Heraldo de México