McCain Institute to host forum on US-Mexico economic relations

Media coverage and popular opinion about the U.S.-Mexico border focuses on the sensational and the negative: illegal immigration, drug trafficking, violent crime, and most recently, the spate of Central American children seeking refuge in the United States.

But little attention is paid publicly to what is arguably a far more significant set of trends: the strengthening of the U.S.-Mexico economic relationship into one that is driving growth, job creation and human development on both sides of the border.

On Sept. 12, the McCain Institute will co-host “Growing Together: Mexico and the United States” with the Center for American Progress at The First Amendment Forum at The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

This event, slated for 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (MT), will feature key leaders from the United States and Mexico to initiate a broad policy conversation aimed at building on this growing economic relationship – and the potential it offers for the future. Doors will open at 9:30 a.m.

Additionally, researchers from Arizona State University will present a new economic model of the U.S.-Mexico economic relationship that offers a means of visualizing a wide range of potential policy choices.

The forum agenda will be as follows:

10:30 a.m., PANEL I: Building a Common U.S.-Mexico Economic Future

noon, lunch presentation: U.S.-Mexico Economic Model

1 p.m., PANEL II: Economic and Regional Trade Ties

Panel I will include: Secretary Jose Antonio Meade, foreign secretary, Mexico; Janet Murguia, president and CEO, National Council of La Raza; Robert B. Zoellick, former president, The World Bank; and Moderator Ambassador Kurt Volker, executive director, The McCain Institute. The luncheon presentation will be given by Anthony Evans, senior research fellow, L. William Seidman Research Institute, and Dennis Hoffman, director, L. William Seidman Research Institute.

Panel II will feature: James Ahlers, general counsel and VP for Legal Affairs, Molera Alvarez; Margie Emmermann, executive director, Mexican Institute for Competitiveness; Juan E. Pardinas, director, Mexico Institute for Competitiveness; and Moderator Daniel Restrepo, senior fellow, Center for American Progress.

If you cannot attend the forum, a livestream will be available at: http://mccaininstitute.org/live.

Written by Nicole Lavella