Guest Column
New Mexican Consul says immigration only part of relationship with Colorado
- By Fernando Quintero
- Rocky Mountain News
October 17, 2007
In 2006 exports to Mexico from Colorado totaled more than $272 million — proof that the state's relationship with Mexico is much more than immigration, said Denver's new Consul General of Mexico Eduardo Arnal.
At a breakfast presentation before the Chamber of the Americas, a Denver-based trade organization, Arnal gave an economic and political update on his home country and stressed that improved conditions there bode well for Colorado and the rest of the nation.
"Mexico and Colorado has historical ties that go back more than a century," said Arnal. "Now, Mexico is the number one market for Colorado products."
Since implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, Arnal said Colorado's export trade with Mexico has grown an annual average of 16 percent. Through 2006, exports to Mexico from Colorado reached $1 billion.
"The irony is agriculture is Colorado's number one import to Mexico, and it's Mexicans who pick the crops," Arnal said.
He added that in 2005, more than 9760 Colorado jobs were dependent upon manufacturing goods being exported to Mexico.
Nationally, Mexico bought $134 billion worth of U.S. goods in 2006. Mexico is the nation's third largest trade partner, behind Canada and China.
But it was Mexico's economic progress that Arnal stressed would increase trade opportunities and help stem the tide of illegal immigration to the United States.
In the first half of 2007, Mexico has received foreign direct investment of more than $13.2 billion — the highest level of investment in more than 20 years, Arnal said. He quoted a study by Goldman Sachs, a global investment banking and securities firm, that predicts Mexico will be one of the world's five largest economies by 2040.
"Mexico is undergoing positive economic change. We've had a decade-long streak of economic stability. We have a stable democracy and the lowest interest rates in history," said Arnal, who took office Sept. 5 after being appointed by Mexican president Felipe Calderon.
Other positive economic developments include a trade agreement with the European Union, and a tax reform bill that went into effect in September and is expected to bring in more than 130 billion pesos (about 12 million dollars) for that nation's 2008 budget.
Arnal said there were still a number of changes that needed to be made for Mexico to continue on the road to prosperity. For example, Mexico is the world's fourth largest oil producer, yet Mexico and North Korea are the only countries that do not allow foreign investment in oil.
"The money Pemex (the country's national oil company) receives goes to the national budget. It doesn't have the money to reinvest to build its infrastructure and be competitive," said Arnal, who added that his country had to import gasoline from the United States because Mexico doesn't have the capacity to refine oil.
"We need to convince our Congress to change that situation," said Arnal.
On the controversial issue of illegal immigration, Arnal said the number of Mexicans coming to the U.S. would not lessen with Mexico's prosperity alone.
"In 2006, there were 250 million legal border crossings from people from Mexico to the United States," he said. "But as long as there is a demand for labor and there is no workable immigration policy in place, undocumented immigration will continue."
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