We could not be more excited with our work with El Paso and the fantastic New Texico group. Check out this feature piece in the New York Times on joint economic development between El Paso and Juarez and our work to create a binational downtown revitalization effort linking the two communities.
“The two cities function symbiotically,” said Bob Cook, president of
the nonprofit economic development corporation. “And that is a
reflection of the two countries functioning symbiotically. In 2006, we
had $55 billion of U.S.-Mexico trade crossing through this border, 18
percent of all U.S.-Mexico trade. There are 267,000 people employed in
manufacturing in the El Paso- Juárez region.” Production sharing in the El Paso-Juárez region, while nothing new,
has become increasingly complex. High-tech parts are manufactured in
the United States and abroad, then shipped to Juárez for assembly and
trucked across the border to El Paso, which has 55 million square feet
of distribution space, before being dispersed throughout the United
States. Many international corporations — based in Europe, North America,
Japan and, increasingly, China and Taiwan — build their own plants. For
instance, Electrolux, a Swedish appliance manufacturer, is expanding
its Juárez campus by more than a million square feet to assemble
refrigerators. …“Juárez 30 years ago was 30,000 people,” said Sergio Bermudez,
president and chief executive of Bermudez International. “Now it’s a
million and a half. With El Paso, there are 2.4 million people. The
future growth of both the U.S. and Mexico is along the border.” …To further strengthen this connection, the cities of Juárez and El
Paso worked together to design a master plan for redeveloping both
downtowns, including an 11-block binational arts district connected by
the main bridge. The first major developers under this master plan are
expected to be announced within weeks.”
The full story is here.
