Doing Business In (Insert Country Name Here) - Department of ...

egardless of their geographic proximity to Laredo/Nuevo Laredo, prefer having theirgoods shipped through this point because the customs agents and customs brokersthere are the most experienced. The Government of Mexico and some stategovernments are trying to promote other border crossings, in order to decrease theconcentration in Laredo and to offer future options to the increasing commercial trafficbetween the two countries.Mexico has a modern highway system, primarily comprised of toll roads connecting themain industrial areas located in the triangle Mexico City-Guadalajara-Monterrey. Outsidethis area, road transportation is fair-to-poor. However, President Calderon has enactedan aggressive program to improve Mexico’s infrastructure, giving priority to theconstruction of new highways and modernization of existing roads to create an efficientroad network across the nation. This program expects to modernize 10,835 miles ofroads by the year 2012.The main maritime ports are Altamira, Tampico, Veracruz and Progreso on the GulfCoast of Mexico, and Ensenada, Lazaro Cardenas, Manzanillo and Puerto Madero onthe Pacific Coast. All these ports have the infrastructure and equipment to facilitateintermodal, door-to-door merchandise transportation. The President’s InfrastructureProgram also includes important projects to modernize and expand existing ports and tobuild a new port in Punta Colonet Baja California, to attract container movement intransit from Asia to the U.S. New multimodal corridors will be developed to connect Gulfand Pacific ports, and production and consumer centers, with NAFTA corridors.Transportation-logistic services are expensive in Mexico: it is estimated that about 8 to15 percent of product cost in Mexico is related to logistics, vis-à-vis 5 to 7 percent inmore developed countries.According to 2008 figures produced by the Secretaría de Comunicaciones yTransportes, a large portion of Mexican products shipped domestically travel by road(about 56.4%), followed by maritime (31.9%) and rail transportation (11.6%). WithinMexico there were 876 million tons of transported goods; 493.8 million tons transportedby highways, 279.7 million tons by ocean, 101.9 million tons by railroad, and .6 milliontons transported by air. Given this distribution, the goal of President Calderon’s team isto increase the volume of cargo using railroad transportation by at least 18-20 percent bythe year 2012. North-South NAFTA trade has tripled over the past decade, straining thelimit of Mexico’s old transportation infrastructure. The Mexican government is fullycommitted to develop the necessary infrastructure and to promote private participation inthe sectors that can help to make industry and exports more competitive.Selling Factors/TechniquesReturn to topIn addition to developing strong working relationships with Mexican partners, U.S. firmsshould use Spanish-language materials and speak Spanish whenever possible whiledoing business in Mexico. Hiring local staff can help facilitate these relationships andprovide U.S. companies with insight on selling to the Mexican market.