The National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA), a non-profit organization representing the interests of 45,000 licensed Hispanic physicians in the United States, will be hosting their 16th annual conference on April 26-29, 2012 at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park in Washington D.C. The health… conference will contain information on developments in the medical field and information on medical homes, care organizations, health insurance exchanges, disease prevention, integrative care, e-health, and medical and educational resources for the growing Hispanic population in the U.S. Workshops will focus on providing individuals in attendance with information and resources on current health conditions and technological advances in the medical sphere of the economy.
The United States and Mexico recently reached an agreement pertaining to the regulation of oil and gas regulations along the two countries shared Gulf of Mexico border. If this Transboundary Agreement is put into law, the United States and Mexico would have respective rights to supervise oil and gas… activities that could affect the environment. The U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar explained the newly formulated agreement between the two countries, “Each of the nations will maintain sovereignty and their own regulatory systems.” He went on to state, “But what this signifies, and what may be the most significant part of the agreement, is that we’re moving forward jointly with Mexico to ensure we have a common set of safety protocols.” The agreement would also permit the Mexican oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), as well as leading oil companies in the United States, to develop oil reservoirs in cooperation with one another along the shared Gulf of Mexico border.
During her recent visit to Mexico City, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Italy, Marta Dassù stated that Mexico is… becoming a profitable economic market for Italy. More and more Italian businesses, both big and small, are interested in investing and trading with Mexico because of favorable market conditions within the country. This is projected to fortify diplomatic relations between Mexico and Italy. At the Italian Embassy in Mexico, Dassù met with influential individuals in the entrepreneurial sector of the economy, including representatives from Enel Green Power and Ferrero. In addition, Under-Secretary Dassù recently attended the G20 Meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico on February 19-20.
Mexico has the lowest tax burden among the most developed economies in the world, according to a recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In its annual report, OECD detailed the tax burdens in place during 2010. The report shows that Mexico has the lowest tax to GDP ratio at 18.7%. …
In June 2012, world leaders will convene in Los Cabos, Mexico to discuss measures to promote the financial stability of the world and how to achieve sustainable economic growth and development at the G-20 Summit. This meeting marks the first time in history that a Latin American country is hosting the… summit, an event that brings together top Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors every year.
In 2006, it was confirmed that breast cancer was the first cause of death among Mexican women. For this reason, 20 of the most emblematic monuments of Mexico City were illuminated with pink lights this month of October. In the context of what is referred to in Spanish as the Breast Cancer Total Care… Program, the illumination of these buildings and monuments is a symbolic reminder to Mexican women that they schedule a mammogram screening or complete a breast self test.
The influx of recyclable bags and new recycling policies in Mexico is benefiting the economy, the job sector, and the environment. The… Managing Director of Falcon Plastics de México SA de CV, Juan Antonio Hernández, stated, “Right now many people are collecting plastic bags and selling them and the price is going up.” He went on to say, “Material is expensive but there’s more of it.”
The embassy of Mexico in Nigeria is in the process of planning an environmental seminar in conjunction with the Center for Climate Change and Environmental… Studies of Nigeria. The seminar hopes to generate a heightened sense of awareness on the environmental issues that Abuja faces today. The seminar is anticipated to spread consciousness on the front of both the Nigerian government and the general public in Nigeria. The seminar will also prepare the country, according to the Ambassador of Mexico in Nigeria, Luis Alberto Barrero Stahl, for the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Framework Convention of the United Nations on Climate Change and the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol that will take place in South Africa next month.
Mexico has been steering a variety of fields, including the automotive, aerospace and textile industries. Most recently, the promulgation of a constitutional reform that recognizes the right to food in the country would make Mexico a leader in hunger prevention issues. …
The September 2010 opening of a new technologically modern hospital in Tepic, Mexico, by the Centro Médico Puerta de Hierro was funded by the Inter-America Development Bank and the International Financial Corporation, and has greatly increased medical services for residents in the area. Prior to establishing the new… hospital, the city’s population of approximately 330,000 people had to travel one hour to receive treatment in Guadalajara. The new hospital in Tepic, Mexico, received not only funding, but also a great deal of support from the Inter-America Development Bank and the International Financial Corporation.
South Bend Mayor Stephen Luecke recently announced a sister city relationship between South Bend, Indiana and Guanajuato, Mexico. Mayor Luecke hopes the connection will allow for understanding between the two cultures and help foster the diverse community. …
The U.S. Department of Defense donated hazardous materials training and equipment valued at $100,000 to fire and safety agencies in Matamoros, Mexico.
The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (FCC) has just declared that they have worked out deals with Mexico’s Secretariat of Communications and Transportation and Industry Canada that will lead to the sharing of certain frequencies of wireless spectrum in border areas of the United States and therefore contribute to imperative international… coordination. This new development is part of President Obama’s plan to provide broadband access to a larger part of the United States. It will be a valuable way to supply broadband to some otherwise remote areas in the United States. The deal will be exceedingly important for security and crisis purposes because it will allow fire, police, and EMS responders to receive wireless spectrum coverage in more areas. In addition, the FCC believes that these new deals will allow a faster and more expansive roll out of 4G wireless broadband for areas that are now lacking such options. It will include wireless spectrum in the 700MHz and 800MHz bands shared with Canada and 700MHz in the bands shared with Mexico.
An anti-venom being produced in Mexico was just approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a scorpion sting treatment. This makes it the first drug permitted for this use by the FDA. This accomplishment is the result of 12 years of research and development by a variety of academic and clinical intellectuals. …
UNESCO, an organization geared towards developing and promoting initiatives that support intercultural dialogue and equality, recently honored Mexico among the winners of its prestigious 2011 Literacy Awards. The themes of this year’s International Literacy Prizes are literacy and peace, with special emphasis on… “gender equality.” Among the exceptional literacy laureates is Mexico’s National Institute for Education of Adults, winning an award for its Bilingual Literacy for Life program.
“Every day along the world’s busiest border, an expensive and time-consuming pantomime is acted out.” So begins the Economist’s coverage of the trucking agreement recently announced between Mexico and the United States. From that smart opening line the paper slips into an… uncharacteristic fit of naïveté, arguing that Mexico stands to chalk major gains from the new transportation agreement. To recap, here are the highlights of the NAFTA trucking agreement: • NAFTA promises that truck drivers from each country will have access to one another’s border states in 1995. Truckers were slated to have nationwide access by 2000. • The Clinton administration halted implementation of the trucking provision under pressure from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters: the trucker’s union claimed that Mexican trucks were unsafe. • In 2007 the Bush administration allowed a trial run, whereby 100 Mexican truck companies would be permitted to haul cargo deeper into the US. • Congressional and private sector studies concluded Mexican trucks in the US received fewer safety violations than their American counterparts. As the Teamsters original objections grew untenable the union shifted tactics: they now insist that letting Mexican trucks into the US will be a green light for drug traffickers to move their product into the US. • President Obama scotched the trial program a few months after entering office. • In accordance with a NAFTA panel ruling, Mexico leveled tariffs against 90 different US products, affecting some $2.4 billion in goods across 40 states. Mexican goods accounted for 12% of US imports in 2010. That’s a record high, and the Economist sees it as a basis for expanded Mexican trade with the US. Seventy percent of the trade between the US and Mexico is transported by truck, so a fleshed out trucking agreement could significantly boost trade. But the devil is in the details. According to Refugio Muñoz, head of Mexico’s shipping chamber, only about 115 of Mexico’s 400,000 trucks will be able to cross the border because of strict security regulations. “I see no future with this program,” Muñoz told the Alaska Dispatch (“News from the Last Frontier”). “The only thing this accord does is give Mexico an excuse to remove tariffs.” In fact, Mexico dropped half the retaliatory tariffs immediately; the remaining half will be dropped when the trucks start to roll. NAFTA’s economic potential has fallen short because of US political interests. That was the case during the pro-free trade administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. There is little reason to think that President Obama, who campaigned on renegotiating parts of NAFTA, will become a champion of NAFTA writ.
Media are reporting today that the United States and Mexico have signed an agreement to lift a ban on Mexican trucks crossing the border… into the United States to complete freight deliveries, a topic about which we have wailed and rent garments here and here and here. No one is proposing to throw open the border to the folksy jalopies that crowd Mexico’s secondary highways – those of windshield pom-pom and “Dios protege mi camino” fame. The Mexican trucks will be subject to strict conditions regarding safety compliance and restriction of activities, including electronic monitoring devices and instruction in English and U.S. road rules. Some Mexican trucking companies, however, have already expressed interest in registering for the program. Under the agreement, the Mexican government will immediately lift half of its punitive import tariffs on a designated set of U.S. products, and will lift the other half once the first Mexican freight carrier becomes certified under the program. The news should come as substantial relief to producers of pork products, wine, appliances and other key products affected by the duties, in place since 2009. In the announcement of the agreement, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsak estimated that the trucking dispute has cost U.S. businesses over US$2 billion. Agricultural producers have been particularly hard hit, with apple, pear and grape exports to Mexico slapped with a 20% duty, cheeses at 25% and various nuts and juices in the 15% to 20% range. This whole dispute was a bunch of baloney from square one and penalized U.S. exporters severely while President Obama was simultaneously calling for a national campaign to boost exports. Good riddance, we say.
In a July 18 press release, Chula Vista Deputy Mayor Rudy Ramirez stated that the public’s false perception that Mexico is dangerous is not supported by real crime statistics. The press release reads, “A key topic of discussion was that the perception of the insecurity of the region is not supported by statistics… regarding public safety.” In the press release, Ramirez reported on a recent meeting with mayors from different cities throughout Southern California and Baja California in which they discussed the false perception individuals hold in regards to safety and life in Mexico. The mayors also spoke about the need to work together to “promote economic development” and tourism in Mexico.
After 47 years of long lines of visa applicants, the U.S. government has moved its Consulate General in Tijuana across town with more than 100,000 square feet of space in the main building, intended to offer both greater efficiency and tighter security at a time when the consulate’s role has grown… increasingly complex. On Monday, offices opened in the consulate, a $120 million gated compound near the Otay Mesa border crossing.
