www.sdchamber.org

Mexico Business Center Update

By James Clark, Director General of the Mexico Business Center

This year’s Fourth Annual InterAmerican Business Awards will be held on Wednesday, November 19, 2008, from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. at the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina with an additional salute to Project Smart Border, the Mexico Business Center initiative to reduce border wait times. The awards ceremony is a joint production of the Chamber’s Mexico Business Center and DEITAC—Tijuana Economic Development Corporation. Ceremonies rotate yearly between Tijuana and San Diego, with this year in San Diego.

Mayor Jerry Sanders is the Host Mayor, with Mayors Jorge Ramos of Tijuana, Cheryl Cox of Chula Vista, Hugo Torres of Playas de Rosarito and Donaldo Peñalosa of Tecateas his as Special Guest of Honor.

The InterAmerican Business Awards are given to companies that have facilities on both sides of the border and contribute to the economic and social prosperity of San Diego County and the Tijuana/Rosarito/Tecate Region. Awards will be given for Outstanding Community Service, Environmental Stewardship, Technological Innovation, Regional Leadership and Service Provider of the Year. More than 100 companies in the San Diego/Tijuana Region are eligible for consideration.

Project Smart Border, chaired by Malin Burnham, is an initiative of the Mexico Business Center initiative that seeks to find innovative ways to reduce border wait times in the short-term by better, more efficient utilization of current facilities and increased staffing to speed secure crossing for people and cargo. Long-term solutions are also promoted that include technological innovation and increased border openings, including the cross-border facility at Tijuana International Airport and Otay Mesa East, among others.

The firm of Roberts, Raheb & Gradler LLC, has been hired to strategize and lobby in Washington, D.C. for border interests with the United States Congress and the Executive branch of new administration taking office in January 2009.

To register for this special event, visit www.sdchamber.org and click “Chamber Datebook.”

Other upcoming Mexico Business Center Events include:

• Sixth Celebration of Mexican Democracy: The California Statewide Debates-San Diego/Tijuana: February 25, 2009. (The MBC also stages the debates in San Francisco/Oakland, Sacramento, Los Angeles and Santa Ana)

• San Diego/Baja California Mission to Mexico IV: April 21-24, 2009

• Eighth Annual Mexico Economic Outlook & 23rd Forum Fronterizo: May 2009

Ninth Annual International Tribute Awards Gala: August 2009