The Indiana delegation's first full day in Mexico built the base of knowledge for all of us to establish strong contacts and relationships and identify potential business opportunities.  We began the morning with a comprehensive briefing by the U.S. embassy political, economic, commercial and agricultural counselors about key trends and challenges in Mexico. I think we all filled our notepads with valuable facts and insights. Some of these included:

• NAFTA clearly has benefited the Mexican economy - now the 10^th largest in the world.  Mexican GDP is approximately $840 billion or $8,000 per capita, but in the southern part of the country poverty is a severe problem.   The new president has recognized that continued economic, labor and education reform will be needed to sustain economic growth.  If implemented, he might succeed in reaching his administration's new goal of becoming the world's 5^th largest economy by 2040.
• Between 2002 and 2006, Indiana's trade with Mexico was up 25% to nearly $2.4 billion in 2006.  In the first three quarters of 2007 there was a 10% increase over the previous year.  It makes sense for us to do business in Mexico…why?  NAFTA, our geographic proximity, a shared Western culture, the solid manufacturing base, political and even macroeconomic stability.
• The United States had record exports of agricultural products to Mexico in 2006 and 2007.  This is expected to continue to increase especially since all the quotas and tariffs associated with NAFTA were lifted as of January 1, 2008.  And, despite a 300% increase in Mexican exports to our country since NAFTA, Mexico's traditional farmers remain disgruntled and are even protesting over perceived uneven success from the agreement and the country's loss of food sovereignty. 

Immediately following the briefing, we participated in a biotechnology roundtable discussion.  A representative from the National Biosafety Committee for Agriculture provided an overview of this issue in Mexico.  There is much debate over the adoption of biotech corn varieties between the government and the agriculture sector - not consumers surprisingly. Corn originated in Mexico and there is an almost religious fervor associated with that heritage and concern that cross-pollination could occur with biotech varieties being introduced. Biotech varieties of cotton and soybeans are commercially produced here but the agriculture sector is slow to adopt this new innovation just as they have been slow to adopt even the most basic of corn hybrids that were introduced over 50 years ago in the United States to increase yields. Don Villwock of Indiana Farm Bureau and Ted McKinney of Dow AgroSciences described a very different adoption story from Indiana and strongly encouraged Mexican government officials to approve more corn varieties because of economic benefits to farmers and investments in rural Mexico.

The delegation broke into groups for the remainder of the afternoon.  One group with grain and biotech interests visited with leadership of national farm associations and also toured a medium-sized feed mill that processed feed for the domestic hog industry.  Another group toured a small but modern pork processing plant which brought already slaughtered pork products from the United States to Mexico for final processing and distribution.  They also visited a traditional "wet" market and several retailers that sell and promote U.S. pork, including Costco. 

Lt. Governor Skillman, who had earlier met with U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza, had a full afternoon witnessing the signing of an MOU for exchange and offer support between Ball State's School of Architecture and that of La Salle University in Mexico City.  She also had an opportunity to discuss key agricultural issues with a high ranking Under Secretary from the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture.  In fact, word had already made it to the Under Secretary of the strong view expressed by the Lt. Governor and Indiana delegation at the biotech roundtable that the Mexican government approve more biotech corn varieties.

The Lt. Governor and the delegation hosted a Friends of Indiana reception for all of our new Mexican contacts and friends.  This gave all of us the opportunity to learn more about the individuals and businesses we had met earlier in the day.

We learned a tremendous amount about the Mexican market yesterday and have identified significant opportunities for Indiana in the pork industry, in distribution and logistics, and in advancing biotechnology.  We will take this knowledge with us to the state of Hidalgo today in the hope of building on already strong relationships there.