PHARR, Texas - Industry leaders from across Mexico know that the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge is about to double in size, says Pharr Economic Development Corporation President Victor Perez.
Perez bases this observation on his interaction with CEOs at the 49th National Convention of Index, the trade association for the maquiladora industry. The convention took place Sept. 18 to 21 in Mérida, Yucatán. Pharr EDC was represented at the convention by Perez and Lilvette Santos, the group’s economic business development director.
“The National Index Convention went very, very well. We met many Index members and their customers, their clients. They have over 14,000 members and they're from all over Mexico. It was really good. We made some good contacts,” Perez told the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service, in an exclusive interview.
“A lot of people had heard about the new bridge coming to the city of Pharr, the International Bridge, the new span expansion. They had heard about the amount of trade that is crossing our bridge. It is not in the millions of dollars. It is in the billions. And it is not only about what the people always talk about, advocates, vegetables and fruit. No. It’s, electronics, the white appliances, televisions, and medical devices.”
Perez gave the interview at the conclusion of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership’s latest Commercial & Investment Tour. The event, which pulled in dozens of realtors and land developers, took place at the Pharr One center in north Pharr.
“The people we met at the Index convention are aware of what we have to offer,” Perez told the Guardian. "They know what it means to have a second span, a second bridge, because of the crossing times right now at other land ports. At some of the other commercial bridges, I am thinking of Laredo, truckers can wait four or five hours to cross. Once we have our second span built, they're gonna be waiting maybe 45 minutes to an hour and a half, max.”
Perez said he and Santos were successful in marketing their city at the Index convention.
“For our part, we shared details on the property and land that we have available in the city of Pharr, in south Pharr, close to the bridge. And we told the CEOs and the presidents about the companies that are there already,” Perez said.
“It’s huge when you have DSV, when you have Majestic, companies of this caliber coming in to South Pharr. That tells you a lot. Because those companies, they do their research, they do what needs to be done. They do their due diligence about the communities they move into.”
Perez said DSV, a global transport and logistics company, is a case in point point.
“DSV has told me, we're here to stay, we’re here for long term. We're not here just to come and move. They're expanding, and they are moving another of their corporate offices to the city of Pharr. It is exciting,” Perez said.
Perez said there was another important lesson he and Santos learned by attending the Index convention.
“We came back from Mérida with a lot of knowledge about how the Mexican business leaders network over there. How they invest, how they plan, what their needs are. We can have really huge impact when we go and travel out to Mexico. It takes a lot of work, but we're getting it done. And my prediction is we’re going to see some of the fruits of our labor, in terms of new investments, in very near future.”
Perez said Pharr EDC had not attended a national Index convention before. He said his colleagues at the Pharr International Bridge had done so for a number of years.
“We were encouraged to go thanks to this new initiative we have with the Pharr Bridge. I think this was the third time they had attended the national Index convention. For us, it was the first time. But again, we learned a lot. We met a lot of people, and we're we feel very confident we're going to be getting some of them come over to Pharr and talk to us about investing.”
Perez said what impressed him the most about the convention was the level of the executives he met.
“You have the presidents, the CEOs of these top companies, Fortune 500 companies in the manufacturing and industrial sectors. When you talk to them, you are talking to the main guy. That is why it was so important that I attended. You are talking to the person who can commit to a project. And, it was CEOs and presidents from across Mexico, from the Yucatan, from Mexico City, from Monterrey.”
Perez said he was also pleased to meet with several federal and state government officials on the trip.
Perez said there is no doubt Pharr EDC will be represented at future national Index conventions.
“This was really an eye opener for us, because we had never been there. But it's something we have to do again and again. With these people, you have to establish a relationship. They need to trust you. They need to know who you are and what you represent,” Perez said.
“There was one particular investor, a huge investor in Mexico, who said, we need to be visible here. It's not just one meeting and you expect them to come or invest over here. It doesn't happen that way. It's got to be a continuous relationship, a continuous collaboration with them.”
Perez said he is also confident of more investment from inside the United States.
“We have some companies that we identified in Detroit, Michigan and other places here in the U.S. that might want to get closer to the border. So, hopefully that level of interest continues. We’ve been very busy, and we're going to continue to stay busy until the end of this year.”
The recently opened Pharr Global Business Hub can only help, Perez added.
“The Pharr Global Business Hub is something that's going to be benefit every community in the Rio Grande Valley. We have had interest from Mexico and Canada. We have already had interest from entrepreneurs in Brazil. As the name of our hub implies, we’re talking about a global thing,” Perez said.
“I'm really happy we have created this international hub. I know it is going to work for us.”
