Mexican president talks economy in Tijuana
From The San Diego Union Tribune
By Morgan Lee
IJUANA, Mexico - "Embarking on a quest for greater national prosperity, Mexico's president traveled with a top economic adviser on Wednesday to Baja
California to meet with Tijuana-area business and political leaders at a hotel blocks away from the U.S. border.
During his campaign and since taking office Dec. 1, Enrique Peña Nieto has sought to shift political discourse toward Mexico's economic and
educational future and away from his predecessor's relentless fight against drug trafficking and organized crime.
At an invitation-only gathering of more than 400 business leaders and politicians, Peña Nieto emphasized his commitment to detailed,
constituency-based government, listening to a laundry list of requests related to electricity rates, irrigation ditches, a Tecate-Tijuana railroad leg
and incentives for development on the border before taking the podium.
"The commitment of my government, and my personal commitment, is to be close to the development and growth that Baja California needs," said Peña
Nieto. Success "doesn't just depend upon structural reform but on the efficiencies that governments have for providing answers to specific needs of
productive sectors."
He tasked Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal to meet in private with local industrial and chamber of commerce leaders and hear out their
concerns.
Peña Nieto's election marked the return of the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, to the presidency after a 12-year hiatus. Across
Mexico, few have forgotten how the party clung to power for 70 years until 2000 through widespread patronage and corruption.
Peña Nieto has distanced himself from that authoritarian past, even as he rebuilds the party's far reaching political machinery.
Political analysts viewed the presidential visit to Tijuana - just 12 days into the term - as an early effort to fortify the PRI's political base in
Baja California ahead of gubernatorial elections next summer.
Baja California's governors have been affiliated with the center-right National Action Party, or PAN, since a groundbreaking 1989 state election,
which marked the first recognized victory by an opposition governor in modern Mexico.
But the PRI still has a large base of support in the state of 3.7 million residents. Its candidates swept all five mayoral races here during mid-term
elections in 2010, and Peña Nieto placed first among Baja California voters in the July vote in a three-way race, without winning a majority.
"The PRI, as a political institution, is in the most competitive position that we've had in the last 24 years," René Mendívil Acosta, state director
for the party, told reporters on Wednesday.
In public comments, State Gov. José Guadalupe Osuna Millán urged the president to make good on infrastructure projects for Baja California already
detailed in next year's budget.
Politics were only the backdrop to a conversation centered on the economy of Mexico's northernmost state.
As labor rates creep up at factories in China, Mexico and its border industries have been pressing their advantages, catering to just-in-time delivery
schedules in the U.S.
The country as a whole has achieved steady economic expansion since 2009 and is expected finish 2012 with 3.9 percent growth in gross domestic
product, despite a slowdown in the third quarter, according to the World Bank.
David Shirk, a Mexico expert and associate professor at the University of San Diego, said Peña Nieto's trip provided new visibility on the West Coast
for his economic cause.
"The message from Peña Nieto is not only that his party is back in power but Mexico is back, that it's a major player as far as tourists and investors
and others to look to in the next couple of years," Shirk said.
Speaking to business leaders for nearly 20 minutes, the president signaled his support for adding perks to a border economic zone initiated under the
previous administration of President Felipe Calderón to provide customs duty exemptions and other incentives for investment.
Peña Nieto acknowledged dissatisfaction in Baja California with peak-demand electricity rates that last hours longer than in other states, and
reiterated a campaign pledge to lower power costs. He offered no specific solution, however, for Baja California, which ties into the Norther American
transmission system instead of Mexico's main grid.
The president also congratulated Tijuana's Xolos soccer squad and its fans for their championship victory this month - over a team from Peña Nieto's
home state.
Major initiatives proposed by Peña Nieto's include a tax code overhaul and opening Mexico's government-run oil monopoly to private investment.
Visiting to White House earlier this month, he and President Barack Obama discussed immigration reform.
"What I think he's doing is trying to change the narrative of Mexico and what its future is," said S. Lynne Walker, vice president of the Institute of
the Americas in La Jolla. "He's bringing the secretary of the economy with him to talk with the very large and diverse business community on the
California border. ... They're going to raise issues about how to stimulate the economy, how to create more jobs."
morgan.lee@utsandiego.com (619) 293-1251 Twitter: SoCalSpark
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
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