Metro Phoenix mayors take business trip to Mexico

PHOENIX — Nine mayors and several other elected officials from Arizona will travel to Mexico on Friday to talk business.

The Office of Economic Development in Nogales, Sonora invited the group to develop better trade relations with Mexico.

Marie Lopez-Rogers, Avondale; Jackie Meck, Buckeye;
Jerry Weiers, Glendale; Georgia Lord, Goodyear;

Thomas Schoaf, Litchfield Park; Jim Lane, Scottsdale; Sharon Wolcott, Surprise and
Michael LeVault of Youngtown round out the Valley’s mayoral contingent.

Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild; Nogales, Arizona Mayor Arturo Garino; and Nogales, Mexico Mayor Ramón Guzmán Muñoz are also scheduled to attend the meeting.

“We’re going to really try to show that we care about this as a political matter, and start to build more business relationships with the folks down there,” said Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton.

This will be his third business trip to Mexico as mayor.

During the visit, elected officials will be given a private tour of a local manufacturing plant, and meet with business leaders in Mexico.

Stanton said creating better infrastructure will be a major topic in Friday’s talks.

“We need to increase freight opportunities, we need to increase trucking opportunities to and from Mexico and part of it needs to be quicker access through the border stops.”

Stanton will be making another trip south of the border in April, to discuss business opportunities with Mexico City.