Some serious powerpointing: top economists, political players break down 'Mexico in the Eyes of Wall Street'.

In the fourth installment of the "Mexico in the Eyes of Wall Street" event organized by the AMERICAN CHAMBER/MEXICO, top officials from the private and public sectors gathered in an elegant ballroom in Mexico City in late May to sit back and gaze at the big fiscal picture, generally expressing optimism at what they saw.

Although the event was highlighted by addresses from Economy Secretary Fernando Canales Clariond and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza, the meat of the discussion came from industry insiders, particularly those economists who lent their views on such topics as "Is Mexico Still Attractive to Wall Street?" The boiled-down answer was an unsurprising "yes."

Analysts from Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Merrill Lynch participated in a roundtable discussion on the subject. They dissected interest rate fluctuations, employment figures, trade account balances and sundry other esoteric economic topics.

"After listening to economists all morning you must be getting bored," joked Mustafa Mohatarem, the chief economist for General Motors Corp., as he opened his enlightening and very positive address, "A Corporate View of Mexico and Latin America."

Playing off lamentations about why Mexico has to be so tied to the leviathan U.S. economy, Mohatarem described it as a blessing, rather than a curse. The U.S. resilience to downturns has helped Mexico, as the two trading partners try to weather the fiscal storms together.

"Would you rather Mexico's economy was tied to Asia's No. 1 economy, Japan, or Europe's No. 1 economy, Germany?" Mohatarem asked rhetorically, before going on to dismiss claims that U.S. financial houses are rife with corporate corruption as "way over-exaggerated."

GARZA TALKS TOUGH

Capping the event, Canales and Garza strolled into the Hotel Nikko ballroom together, and while Canales delivered a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation that discussed such plans as the "Alliance for Employment" and the significance of interest rate fluctuations, the ambassador's address was much more controversial. His remarks led the morning papers the following day--one of the event sponsors was the daily Reforma--as his rather tough stance on the stalled migration agenda raised some eyebrows in the audience.

"[If we] allow terrorists to enter the U.S. through Mexico, or to commit acts of terrorism in Mexico, then the effects of those actions will hit not only their targets, but our bilateral agenda for growth as well," he said.

Garza's comments were interpreted by many of the assembled journalists and Mexican businessmen that the U.S. hard line on migration reform will continue. However, the ambassador tempered his comments with compassion, saying that the millions of Mexicans living illegally in the United States are "hard-working individuals in danger of becoming a permanent underclass."

Matthew Brayman is editor of BUSINESS MEXICO.