An intermediary on the border: BTA facilitates discussion as new plans come fast and furious.

With new border programs becoming more numerous in recent months, the need for communication and cooperation both within the private sector and between corporations and the government has become as great as in the early days of Nafta.

Advertising itself as "the voice of free and efficient trade," the nonprofit Border Trade Alliance (BTA) has been around since 1986, and developments in regard to heightened security at border checkpoints in the aftermath of Sept. 11 have increased its visibility on several key fronts.

BTA president Maria Luisa O'Connell and director of policy development Garrick Taylor recently visited Mexico and met with high-ranking representatives of the Communications and Transportation Secretariat, public policy advisers to President Fox and various members of the private sector.

"Speaking with U.S. officials only solves half the problem," said Taylor. She stressed that the Phoenix, Arizona-based BTA is not a U.S.-first organization, but rather a collection of like-minded corporations and individuals from Nafta countries determined to improve life among border communities and the companies that serve them.

REVIEWING C-TPAT 

And although the organization is looking ahead to a conference in September in Mexico City, the new U.S. program C-TPAT, which provides corporations fast-lane benefits at the border in exchange for cooperation in beefing up supply-chain security, was a key point of discussion.

"We have found out that the reaction right now is that the companies do not have all the information on the program," said O'Connell. "Small- and medium-sized companies are concerned that it might add expense. We need to let companies know that it will benefit them in the long run."

However, the BTA officials stopped short of wholeheartedly advocating the new program--saying it remains to be seen if Customs will have the manpower and resources to execute it properly.

"There are a lot of new regulations that they want to implement. But to do that, you need the manpower and you need the money in the budget," O'Connell said.

The significance in C-TPAT, according to the BTA officials, lies not in whether General Motors will shave a few minutes off its Mexico-to-U.S. delivery time, but that it is a government effort to work with industry in an open and constructive manner. "CTPAT is one piece of that overall discussion," said Taylor. "And obviously it is going to require buy-in from industry. There's no question about that."

THE MANY-HEADED BEAST

This need for cooperation between the private sector and the three governments has long been a plank on the BTA platform, and, in a sense, the terrorist attacks of nearly two years ago helped underline this tenet. Although there were screams to shut down the border and the long-pushed migration accord has been indefinitely shelved as a result of the new U.S. approach to security, BTA officials said that communication between the two countries has improved and the once many-headed U.S. checkpoint beast has been streamlined.

"Post 9-11, we tried to turn a negative into a positive, and hopefully we could see a more streamlined approach to the border," said Taylor. Efforts to make coherent U.S. border policy can be seen in the "22-point Smart Border Plan" and now C-TPAT as well.

"A common maxim has been that economic security is integral to border security. That's where the BTA comes in--to keep the government's feet to the fire," Taylor said.

For more information on the Border Trade Alliance, visit its website at www.thebta.org. Contact the organization in the U.S. at 602-266-7427 or via email at [e-mail].

* On Tap

BTA 2003 International Conference Sept. 25-26 Four Seasons Hotel, Mexico City The event will focus on the 22-Point Smart Border Plan, economic competitiveness and other key trade-related issues.