Enrique Solana Sentíes is president of the Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism of Mexico.
FACING AN IMMINENT NAFTA REVISION, THE CONFEDERATION OF NATIONAL CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE, SERVICES AND TOURISM OF MEXICO (CONCANACO SERVYTUR) AND OTHER CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE, SERVICES AND TOURISM, DRIVE GROWTH OF SMALL BUSINESSES TO HELP THEM BE MORE COMPETITIVE AND PRODUCTIVE IN OTHER MARKETS.
The current relationship with the new U.S. administration has led us to reframe how we will address new challenges and the role that we will play in the updating and imminent revision of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Undoubtedly, NAFTA has allowed us to expand our international trade, tourism and investment in an exponential manner. For example, Mexico’s exports currently amount to over one billion dollars per day to the U.S. and Canada. Twenty-two years ago, this figure was one hundred million.
Mexico is the main export destination for the U.S. border states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California. These exports add up to $269 billion since the start of the NAFTA, twenty-five percent of today’s worldwide GDP.
The market conditions existing more than two decades ago were different from those we face today, especially in an era where technology plays a central role and demands more competitiveness and productivity.
Today’s environment, characterized by highly competitive local markets, has forced small businesses to seek and adopt processes and procedures that allow them to maintain strategic positioning and, simultaneously, build competitive advantages to retain and increase market share in the mid- and long-term.
It’s worth mentioning that CONCANACO SERVYTUR represents more than two hundred national chambers of commerce, services and tourism and more than 700,000 member businesses, of which ninety percent are classified as small businesses.
These businesses contribute fifty-three percent of the GDP and represent the same percentage in the creation of real jobs. As such, it is vital to nurture new business and preserve the existing ones, integrating them into the current technological era to satisfy current needs and especially to assure a level playing field with foreign countries.
Hence the reason that CONCANACO SERVYTUR and its chamber members work together to modernize their enterprises, collaborate with government and society, and support public policy aimed at attaining this objective.
We believe that it is necessary to set the appropriate conditions to transform Mexico into an innovation hub. Here are a few of these conditions:
Establish short-, medium- and long-term policies that strengthen the connections be tween education, technology and innovation;
Establish short-, medium- and long-term policies that strengthen the connections be tween education, technology and innovation;
- Enable industries the use of information technology in its products and services;
- Support more financing for scientific, tech nological and innovation development; and
- Develop more entrepreneurs to patent and develop projects that will benefit Mexico.
