A group of 500 business and civic leaders gathered last week in Irvine and Santa Ana for a summit of California and Mexican mayors, held to discuss technology, trade and commerce.
About 35 mayors from Mexico and 15 mayors from California attended the event, which was spearheaded by Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and Irvine Mayor Christina Shea.
The event didn’t feature Orange County’s heavyweight business crowd, but rather executives from smaller firms who wanted to know more about doing business in Mexico or California.
One exception was Liam McGee, Bank of America’s president for Southern California. McGee said that Mexico is on the verge of becoming the state’s top buyer of its products, surpassing Japan.
“No country is more important to our state than Mexico,” said McGee, during a luncheon speech last Tuesday at the Irvine Hyatt. “The personal relationships that we build at the local level will help build trade.”
During the conference, the conversation was predominantly in English but often flowed into Spanish. Orange County’s Hispanic business community was out in force, as the Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce hosted a lunch and several seminars. Executives said they found the networking helpful.
“I’ve been talking to manufacturers and distributors who want to do business in Mexico but don’t have the means and don’t know who to call,” said Pat Velasquez, VP of sales and marketing for aXoro.com, a recent Irvine-based Internet startup.
Her company’s web page, which is beginning with a section called “EZNegocio” (Easy Business), is aiming to facilitate contacts between Mexican and American businesses.
“I’ve been talking to the mayors from Mexico about our web page. They are super excited. I’ve gotten invitations to make presentations in Mexico,” she said.
Among aXoro.com’s four co-founders is Ruben Smith, a partner in Irvine-based law firm Alvarado, Smith, Villa & Sanchez, and president-elect of the OC Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Gov. Gray Davis was scheduled to speak, but canceled due to a scheduling conflict. In his place was Lon Hatamiya, secretary of the state Trade and Commerce Agency. He said the investment stream isn’t just Californians investing in Mexico, but also vice versa.
“California’s relationship with the government and people of Mexico is rapidly improving,” he said.
Also in attendance were Jesus Reyes Heroles, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, and Jeffrey Davidow, U.S. ambassador to Mexico, and trade officials from both countries.
The organizers said they were pleased with the turnout and are planning a similar event for Mexico for next year.
Shea said she was expecting maybe 100 people to attend the event.
“We were just overwhelmed by the turnout,” she said. n
