What Way Forward for the Mexican Economy?
Geoffrey Garrett asked Governors Andrade and Cardenas to talk about their economic strategy, noting that “economic growth in Mexico has been flat over a two-decade period.” Manuel Andrade responded, “We are going through a process in which everything is being questioned and revised. . . . Certain parts of Mexico are highly developed and financially very strong. Right now you know that the states in northern Mexico, they are trying to create a type of organization similar to the European Union in order to associate with the U.S. states at the border to be able to have a relationship as a development area that will allow us to have agreements with other countries.” In the post-September 11 world, he said, Mexico’s comparative safety and stability would be an important asset. Before September 11, he said, Latin American governments were brought down under pressure from international financial institutions for refusing to accept economic guidelines the developed countries wanted to impose
