October 16, 2000

Six Mexican states join South Bay's Economic Summit

HispanicVista.Com

The Tenth Annual Economic Summit organized by the South San Diego Economic Development Council (SCEDC) has attracted the participation of six economic development agencies. The participating states are Baja California, Baja California Sur, Colima, Jalisco, Oaxaca and Sonora. The two-day conference is scheduled for October 19^th and 20^th in San Diego and Tijuana.

The SCEDC was formed in 1989 in response to concerns from South Bay community leaders to what was then felt that the San Diego EDC was not placing sufficient emphasis on attracting business and industry to the South Bay, but was rather unduly concentrating on the North County regions.

The cities of Coronado, National City, Imperial Beach and Chula Vista agreed, and helped form and fund the South San Diego County Economic Development Council, more commonly known as the South Bay EDC. Joining in funding the Council have been the City and County of San Diego, and the San Diego Port. The Council also receives funds from private sector memberships. Each of those public entities holds a permanent Board seat with private sector representatives also on the Board.

Ten years ago the SCEDC held the first Economic Summit, and has followed with one each year since then, gaining acceptance as one of the premier events in the San Diego region attracting participants from throughout Southern California.

In celebration of their tenth annual economic summit, the Council decided to reach out to the interior of Mexico inviting the various Pacific Mexican states to attend a grand Economic Summit of Economic Development agencies and councils.

The SCEDC gained the cooperation of the Mexican Consulate in San Diego, and the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., plus the California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED), California Trade & Commerce Agency, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, the San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce, the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, the City of Tijuana, and in particular the full cooperation and hard work of the Small Business Development & International Trade Center (at Southwestern College).

Because the program was so extensive, the Council decided that for the first time the Summit would be a two-day event.

On Thursday, October 19^th, U.S. business people will convene in Tijuana for a series of workshops on "How to establish a business in Mexico." On the same day, the economic development agencies' participants from Mexico will attend workshops [in San Diego dealing with "Strategies for Successful Economic Development."

On Friday, October 20^th, all participants will convene in San Diego for a series of workshops on the opportunities San Diego and each of the Mexican states represent.

The workshops in both Tijuana and San Diego will be conducted by well known experts in each of the topics to be covered. And the luncheons for each day will have renowned keynote speakers. For instance, Lon Hatamiya, California's Secretary of Trade & Commerce will keynote on Friday's lunch.