Both sides of the border: AmCham makes lobbying trip to Washington D.C.

Recognizing that AMERICAN CHAMBER/MEXICO is uniquely positioned among business organizations engaged in U.S.-Mexico trade and investment to lobby key players on both sides of the border, the Chamber always strives to help improve the business environment for the benefit of our member companies.

Complementing AMCHAM's year-round work with the Mexican government and Mexico-based U.S. officials, the Chamber's annual lobbying trip to Washington D.C. serves to establish lines of communication. The goal is to keep Mexico at the top of the agenda of U.S. government officials who can be allies in resolving issues of concern to our member companies. This is not always an easy task, but it is one we tackle eagerly.

This year, AMCHAM President Miles G. Bryant III led the largest-ever delegation of Chamber members to meet with Washington movers and shakers. Eighteen executives from 16 companies convened in the U.S. capital from May 4-6 to participate in meetings with top Bush administration officials and congressional leaders.

For the first time, the delegation was made up of both U.S. and non-U.S. companies. The diversity of executives and companies provided our hosts with a unique panorama of the problems, challenges and opportunities facing companies operating in Mexico.

The mission kicked off with a break-fast with Mexican Ambassador to the United States Carlos de Icaza. A career diplomat, de Icaza told the group that he had identified three priorities in the bilateral agenda.

The first is the need to focus on the "human dimension." In other words, policymakers must recognize the contribution Mexican workers make to the U.S. economy and the need to push forward on an immigration program that will ensure the demand for labor in the United States is met. It is equally important that the rights of Mexican immigrants are respected, he said.

De Icaza said security was also a priority for both countries. He rated border cooperation as "good" and said advances had been achieved in areas like the bilateral water dispute.

He concluded by saying the future of the Nafta relationship was bright, though he regretted the media had not given the March 23 meeting in Waco, Texas, between President Vicente Fox, U.S. President George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, the attention it deserved.

He pointed out that this was the first time since the signing of Nafta more than 10 years ago that the leaders of the three North American nations had come together to talk about cooperation in the spheres of competitiveness and security.

Cooperation With Commerce

One of the highlights of the trip was a meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. Chamber delegates took advantage of this unique encounter to express AMCHAM's interest in continuing to work with U.S. Department of Commerce officials in Washington and for Mexico to press forward on an agenda of reforms to improve its business environment. Another goal was to better integrate our two economies in a more competitive North American alliance.

The delegation met with Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega and Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Regina Vargo to talk about the mid-term prospects for increased trade relations between both countries.

Noriega initially voiced pessimism about Mexico's political and economic performance over the past several years. However, he tempered his opinion after listening to delegates express their views about how Mexico has made important inroads in the democratic arena--given the country's previous 70-year political history.

In the meeting with Vargo, the delegation was surprised to discover that following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to allow Mexican trucks to circulate on U.S. highways, it is now Mexican truck owners who are stalling the opening. Mexican Embassy officials admitted that the tables are now turned.

Meetings with Keith Thomson, the assistant commissioner for international affairs at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and with Al Martinez-Fonts, special assistant to the secretary of Homeland Security for the Private Sector and a former AMCHAM/MEXICO president, focused on specific steps needed to make the U.S.-Mexico border more efficient and more secure for both merchandise and people.

Meetings were also held with several congressional leaders--including Representatives Gene Green (Dem.-Texas) and immigration advocate Jeff Flake (Rep.-Arizona)--to voice the Chamber's stance on immigration and to offer AMCHAM as a source of information and feedback for any legislative issues related to Mexico.

Several members of the delegation met with legislative assistants to U.S.-Mexico Congressional Caucus Co-Chair David Dreier (Rep.-California), and Senators Norm Coleman (Rep.-Minnesota) and Ted Stevens (Rep.-Alaska), who chair the subcommittee on Western Hemisphere and the Commerce Committee, respectively.

This year's mission also included meetings with the Mexican embassy's economic team, trade specialists at the Organization of American States and the management team of the Association for Manufacturing Technologies.

On Thursday evening, delegates were invited by Ambassador de Icaza to join in the 5 de mayo festivities at the Mexican Cultural Institute. The event served to make new contacts while enjoying antojitos and tequila.

'Smart' Lopez Obrador

The mission concluded on Friday, May 6 with three meetings that were both thought-provoking and pragmatic.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico and U.S. political cognoscenti James Jones was objective in his observations. He noted, on one hand, that the Fox administration's handling of the Lopez Obrador impeachment case had been unfortunate and that it had negatively impacted on perceptions of the country in Washington and New York.

He also noted that Lopez Obrador was "the smartest political strategist in Mexico currently," and quoted the Mexico City mayor as saying, "I'm smart enough to know that we cannot distribute wealth if we don't create it."

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Later, Armand Peschard-Sverdrup--director of the Mexico Project at the prestigious Center for Strategic and International Studies--said despite the country's political cobweb of the moment, Mexico would emerge as a stronger democracy in the coming years.

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In reference to concerns about a political shift to the left, he said, "until society asks Lopez Obrador what his economic platform is, he won't be forced to come up with one."

Leo Lobato, the CEO of Boulder Information Technologies (BIT) and a member of the AMCHAM mission to the U.S. capital, described the lobbying trip as "very fruitful."

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"We not only met with fine people from Mexico, but we also developed contacts at the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Customs for clients and other Chamber members from Monterrey," he said. "This will surely serve to facilitate things for members as well as serve as motivation to attract new members to AMCHAM MEXICO."

Lobato said the mission was also beneficial for BIT since he was able to visit a D.C.-based supplier of weather radar technology. An alliance between the two companies was formed thanks to his participation in previous lobbying trips in 2000 and 2004. Highlighting the value of these lobbying trips for AMCHAM MEXICO members, Lobato said the arrangement represented US$1 million in business for BIT so far this year.

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Olaf Carrera ([e-mail]) is the national director of AMCHAM's

Department of External Relations.