Mexico is an important player in foreign trade on a global scale, especially since the entry into force of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) , which boosted trade in North America. However, the different governments that have had the country since then, especially the current federal administration, have been apathetic to the issue of developing the infrastructure necessary for the movement of goods that are exchanged in the region and other areas of the world.
Daniel Covarrubias, director of the Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development de la A.R Sánchez, JR School of Business, Texas A&M International University , stood out in the panel Cross Border Shipping- From Compliance and Customs to Transport , organized by Manifest , which since 1994 With NAFTA, trade between the United States and Mexico has more than quintupled, however, investment efforts have not kept pace with this growth.
The World Bank has recommended that countries invest at least 4.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in infrastructure, however, throughout this administration it went from 4% to 2 percent.
Meanwhile, specialists say that logistics efficiency depends on having the necessary conditions for its proper functioning, which is why they point out that greater attention from the public sector is required to invest in infrastructure.
This is also because Mexico has increased the foreign investment it has received in recent years, mainly through reinvestment of profits, attracting up to 36,058 million dollars (mdd) in 2023, according to official data.
However, although Mexico is attractive to foreign investors, they may not be capitalized since “we have an asymmetry in terms of infrastructure, the only encouraging signs we have to improve international trade are airports, other than that, roads. and the border crossings are still quite behind in their infrastructure,” Rogelio González Achirica, president of the Board of One Stop Group and of Controlled Precincts of the Northeast, highlights to T21.
Manuel Díaz, president of Supply Chain of Mexico and Target Consulting, adds that the new works on which the outgoing government focused are yet to prove their efficiency, for example, “the transisthmian has sociocultural problems, it does not have correct infrastructure, it passes through two very conflictive states with more than 74 municipalities, no matter how much you give away land for the development poles there is no way to move it, I don’t see the viability of the project.”
Comment and follow us on X: @jenna_GH_ / @GrupoT21
