Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, P.L.C., a leading Phoenix-based law firm, will partner with Arizona Town Hall as the premier sponsor of the third annual Arizona & Mexico Town Hall on October 3-4, 2019, at the Hotel Lucerna in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. The genesis of this event was a recommendation from the 108th Arizona Town Hall, which was hosted in Tucson in 2016 and explored the strong ties bonding Arizona and Mexico.
The focus of the Arizona & Mexico Town Hall is for participants to actively engage in panel discussions focused on available cross-border trade, investment and business attraction resources aimed at driving economic development in the Arizona and Sonora region. Topics to be explored will include: business organizations, real property, banking and financing, tax regimes and incentives, intellectual property, import/export regulations, labor and employment, the importance of socially responsible development initiatives, and much more.
The goal of the Arizona & Mexico Town Hall is for participants to build professional networks while providing important recommendations on substantive updates and enhancements to available electronic resources that play a crucial role in driving cross-border trade, investment and business attraction in the Arizona and Sonora region. In cooperation with the Arizona-Mexico Commission, Financial Legal Services Committee, the ultimate goal will be to use the report from the 2019 Arizona & Mexico Town Hall as the impetus for an electronic cross border business guide between Arizona and Mexico.
“I am very proud of the contributions that the Arizona Town Hall has made to support ongoing cooperation between Arizona and Mexico over the last three years,” states Patrick F. Welch, Member of Jennings Strouss. “The timing of 2019 Arizona & Mexico Town Hall could not be more strategic. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has been signed, but not yet ratified by the United States Congress. The Arizona & Mexico Town Hall will provide yet another opportunity for Arizonans and Sonorans to critically examine ways to improve bi-lateral trade and investment between the two states and collectively raise their voices in support of the USMCA.”
According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, United States goods and services traded with Mexico totaled an estimated $671.0 billion in 2018. Mexico was the United States’ 2nd largest trading partner for imports and exports in 2018. This reflects the large role of re-exported goods originating in other countries (or originating in one NAFTA partner, arriving in the United States, and then returned or re-exported to the other partner without substantial transformation). United States statistics count goods coming into the United States customs territory from third countries and being exported to our trading partners, without substantial transformation, as exports from the United States.
“It’s critical that Arizona and Mexico do everything possible to maintain and strengthen relationships with each other,” states Tara L. Jackson, President of Arizona Town Hall. “The Arizona & Mexico Town Hall is one way to effectively achieve that goal.”
According to the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona, Mexico is Arizona’s number one trade partner, accounting for about 30% of all Arizona’s exports to foreign markets and 37% of all Arizona’s imports from foreign markets. Arizona exports to Mexico in 2018 totaled $7.6 billion, and primarily include manufacturing products and agricultural goods.
The Arizona-Mexico Commission is proud to sponsor the Arizona & Mexico Town Hall and support its work to drive cross-border trade through networking, information sharing and the creation of binational business resources,” states Juan Ciscomani, Senior Advisor for Regional and International Affairs, Office of Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. “This event comes at a time when international trade is at the forefront of discussions. The time is now to secure Arizona’s economic future through the USMCA, and it’s work that happens at events like this that propels Arizona’s trade forward.”
The $150 registration fee includes a social networking happy hour on the evening of October 3rd, registration for the town hall, lunch, and a closing dinner on October 4th. Hotel reservations must be made separately and can be done online at Hotel Lucerna. For more information and to register online, visit Arizona Town Hall or call the Arizona Town Hall office at 602.252.9600.
The 2019 Arizona & Mexico Town Hall is sponsored by Jennings Strouss, Salt River Project, the Arizona-Mexico Commission, and Visit Tucson.
