By Lisa Y. Garibay
On August 6-7, a capacity crowd of border educators, students and business leaders joined government officials from both Mexico and the United States on The University of Texas at El Paso campus for discussion that transcended fences.
The annual U.S.-Mexico Summit, organized by the office of U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke in partnership with UTEP, gave attendees an insider’s look at the logistics of trade, transportation, employment, education, environment, community building and human rights. Experts in each field, many of whom live and work in the El Paso-Juarez region, spoke about the significant positives of border economy and way of life versus the negatives that more often draw news coverage.
Guest speakers from Washington, D.C., included U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske, U.S. Representative William B. Hurd, Mexico Institute Deputy Director Christopher Wilson, and Chargé d’ Affaires William H. Duncan from the Embassy of the United States in Mexico.
“The border is the least understood, most important thing in the lives of these two countries,” Duncan said during his panel discussion with Senator Gabriela Cuevas Barrón, chair of Mexico’s Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; Almacenes Distribuidores de la Frontera CEO Alejandra De La Vega; Hunt Companies Executive Chairman Woody Hunt; and moderator Patrick Schaefer, executive director of UTEP’s Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness.
Other representatives from Mexico’s government on the bilingual panels included State of Chihuahua Senator Lilia Merodio Reza and Secretary of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal.
Furthering the significance of both the topic and area covered by the summit was a statistic that elicited a collective gasp from the audience: If the U.S.-Mexico border region were a country, it would have the 4th largest economy in the world.
UTEP President Diana Natalicio delivered opening remarks on both days, pointing out how the university’s priority on delivering affordable, high-quality education has raised quality of life for the local border community while research made possible due to UTEP’s unique locale has resulted in vast improvements in water treatment, transportation systems, and healthcare well beyond the border.
Duncan echoed this sentiment by pointing out that large numbers of people over the United States have jobs “and are making their lives better because of trade with Mexico.
New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez also spoke to lend perspective from another U.S. state on the international border. Fellow UTEP alumnus Alfredo Corchado, Mexico Bureau Chief for The Dallas Morning News, addressed freedom of the press and its importance to improved political and economic conditions.
Following Thursday afternoon’s panels, a reception hosted by the mayors of El Paso, Ciudad Juárez, and Las Cruces brought the first day to a close.
After morning sessions at UTEP on Friday, the summit continued activities across the border at the Centro Cultural Paso Del Norte in Juárez. In between, Pritzker attended a ribbon cutting for the establishment of UTEP’s W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation as the first satellite center for America Makes, the national additive manufacturing innovation institute. She noted how the region had for many years been a strong example of collaboration and inclusiveness.
“There’s no community that understands better that there’s a globalized world than El Paso,” Pritzker said.