1st trade mission to Mexico in 12 years underway

Puerto Rico Trade and Export Executive Director Francisco Chévere (Credit: © Mauricio Pascual)

Fusionworks Inc. closed its office in Mexico City earlier this year but that hardly means this Condado-based business and technology advisory firm is out of that market.

In fact, it still has clients in Mexico and is among the 13 Puerto Rican businesses participating in the Puerto Rico Trade and Export-sponsored trade mission to that city currently underway.

“We want to expand,” said Jaroldi González, a marketing assistant at Fusionworks.

This trade mission is particularly significant, according to agency Executive Director Francisco Chévere who is leading the group during the trip.

“It’s been more than 12 years since we had coordinated a trade mission to Mexico, currently a country whose economy has developed and diversified in a significant way in recent decades due in large measure to the free trade agreements that have been signed,” he said.

Mexico is one of Puerto Rico’s main trade partners, Chévere said. The trade balance is tilted higher on the side of imports, which reached $437.2 million in 2015, while exports from the island to Mexico totaled $359.3 million.

The mission seeks to promote more active trade and identify new opportunities for business between both countries. It counts with the support of the Commerce, Services and Tourism Chamber of Mexico City and the Exporta Group global business network.

Chévere said mission members already have lined up business meetings with potential clients and product and service distributors.

Besides Fusionworks Inc., other participants are: Atención Atención Inc.; Vázquez Distributors; DMCG Inc; EB Validation Services; Eco Partners; Institute of Higher Education; LaSalle Group, LLC; Omega & Delta Co. Inc.; Pan American Grain MFG; Prime Janitorial Services Corp.; Pyramid Learning Corp.; and Steam and Combustion Technology Inc.

The group, which left the island on June 27, returns July 1.