BROWNSVILLE, Texas – The Rio South Texas Economic Council is a nonprofit membership organization that brings together the economic development interests of the cities, counties, chambers and educational institutions, workforce boards, ports, businesses and other stakeholders working towards regionally prosperity.
Our mission is to successfully promote the economic expansion and diversification of communities in the Rio South Texas region by enhancing the knowledge of the area’s many assets among potential investors, fostering growth of the local economy and enhancing competitiveness to attract capital investment and jobs.
RSTEC aims to transform the economic reality of the region by facilitating the expansion of value-added industries to the attraction of foreign direct investments or FDI, with the goal of proving the region’s residents with economic opportunities. We hope to accomplish by serving as the tip of the spear for the region’s economic development marketing efforts, filling existing white space by developing relationships, value added industry thought leaders, decision influencers and decision-makers from global markets under-represented in the region.
RSTEC develops these relationships by engaging them in their organizations, conferences, trade shows, in other words on their home turf. RSTEC builds their understanding of the region through one-on-one conversations as well as by bringing them into the region for tours and site visits, where they in turn are connected with RSTEC council members.
Founded in 2008 and continuously evolving since, RSTEC activities have made significant strides since it adopted its current strategic direction in 2016 which is focused on developing a platform for the attraction of foreign direct investment, which has in itself evolved with each successful annual program of work. And RSTEC plans to build on it for the remainder of 2021.
With an ongoing commitment to our members to build a brand recognition for the Rio South Texas region to advance the attraction of FDI, RSTEC has a clear vision of where and how we should expend our resources in 2021 and beyond. The challenges RSTEC faces along that path are centered around its limited resources in the most efficient and effective ways to both pursue our strategic priorities of coalition building, marketing and transforming.
The Rio South Texas Economic Council has a diverse membership which includes public and private entities interested in promoting and developing the collective assets of the region in a manner that attracts private sector investment, economic diversification and business expansions.
We at RSTEC hope that the following industrial virtual visit will be informative and will highlight just a few of the many industrial assets here in the Rio Grande Valley. We hope that many of you watching will continue to support RSTEC and keep our amazing community in mind in any future industrial projects.
Editor’s Note: The above commentary was given by René Xavier González, executive director of the Rio South Texas Economic Council during a webinar that featured a virtual tour of the Rio Grande Valley’s industrial parks. The webinar featured virtual visits to industrial parks in Brownsville, Matamoros, Harlingen and Weslaco. The economic development efforts of the Texas Governor’s Office was also featured, along with a Q&A conducted by representatives from UT-Rio Grande Valley. The attached podcast features the webinar.
Editor’s Note: The above story and podcast is the second in a four-part series. Click here to read Part One, which features an economic development update from Brownsville. Part Three, featuring an economic development update from Harlingen, will be posted in our next edition.
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