WESLACO, RGV – Joey Treviño, Weslaco’s newest economic development director, hit the ground running just weeks into the job.
Gov. Rick Perry invited 15 communities in Texas to meet 50 Mexican businesses that had expressed an interest in relocating to Texas.
Only six Texas cities attended the Governor’s function in San Antonio. The City of Weslaco represented the Rio Grande Valley.
“I met with three rooms full of Mexican businesses from a variety of industries like construction, finance, hotels and restaurants that want to relocate to South Texas,” Treviño told the Guardian and Rio Grande Valley Public Radio.
According to Treviño, the most important inquiries came from the energy, trucking and pipeline industries because of shale deposits located in the Sabines, Burgos, Tampico and Veracruz basins. The development of these oil shale deposits in Mexico will have a positive impact on the Rio Grande Valley in terms of jobs, Treviño said.
Among the Mexican companies Treviño met with were Procesos Aledo, an automative parts manufacturer, Ahorro y Calidad de Energía eléctrica, an electrical energy saving equipment firm, Grupo Nacional de Infraestructura, a construction company, and Ingenistra Telecom, a distributor of IT solutions, switchboard consoles, and security systems.
Treviño said that he has been receiving phone calls and personal visits from those contacts he made in San Antonio. They all expressed an interest because of the Mid-Valley Airport and Weslaco’s proximity to valuable amenities.
“It’s been a tremendous, exciting period these past couple of months,” Treviño said. “The phone’s been ringing and we’ve been meeting with developers that want to locate in the Mid-Valley area.”
Treviño said that Weslaco EDC is developing strategic plans and will involve members of the community to comment on these plans.
<I>Editor’s Note: Guardian reporter Steve Taylor contributed to this story by Rio Grande Valley Public Radio reporter Mario Muñoz. </I>
