By Diana Washington Valdez / El Paso Times

Posted:   09/13/2014 12:47:29 PM MDT

El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, left, Juárez Mayor Enrique Serrano and Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima discuss wait times and security on the border and steps being taken to keep the three cities safe and help trade continue to prosper Friday at the El Paso convention center during the Texas-Chihuahua-New Mexico Regional Economic Competitiveness Forum. (RUBEN R. RAMIREZ — EL PASO TIMES)

Borders with Mexico and Canada offer vast opportunities for commerce and trade, U.S. lawmakers and other leaders said Friday at a Texas-Chihuahua-New Mexico Regional Economic Competitiveness Forum in El Paso.

To compete against other regions in a globalized economy, regional leaders need to raise the border's visibility and demand their fair share of resources for infrastructure and development, said state Sen. José Rodríguez, D-El Paso, one of the featured speakers at the forum that attracted more than 300 people.

The Texas Enterprise fund serves as an example of where El Paso's border community can do more, Rodríguez said, "The (TEF) has funded 100 projects worth half a billion dollars, but only two of those projects, together worth about $5.4 million, were in El Paso."

The TEF provides communities competing against regions outside of Texas with "deal-closing" resources to attract new jobs and investment. El Paso was awarded a combined $5.4 million in enterprise funds in 2006 and 2012, both times for ADP, which offered to create 1,667 direct jobs in the city.

U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar and Beto O'Rourke, both Democrats, stressed the importance of fighting false negative images that portray the border as violent and dangerous.

Cuellar said he challenged a 2011 taxpayer-funded study by retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey and retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales because it portrayed the border as a "war zone," something which Cuellar and others said needlessly scares away investors and hurts efforts to recruit professionals to the border.

Despite the bad publicity the border sometimes gets, U.S. Commerce Department figures show that Texas exports to Mexico grew from $62 billion a year in 2008 to $100.9 billion a year in 2013, a 63 percent increase.

Cuellar said he and other lawmakers also had to fend off a 49 percent cut in U.S. foreign aid to Mexico, which he considered an insult to the nation's second largest trading partner for exports after Canada. U.S. officials also told Cuellar that they doubted Mexico had the capacity to handle large sums of money.

"The (explanation) I got from the State Department was that, 'Well, Mexico has Carlos Slim,' " Cuellar said.

Slim, a Mexican citizen and business magnate, is considered by Forbes to be the world's richest man.

"We need to define the border for the rest of the world rather than letting others define the border for us," said O'Rourke, adding that if he could pass any legislation he would push bills to adopt comprehensive immigration reform and to modernize all the border ports of entry.

El Paso was the host for one of four similar regional conferences, according to the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute in Washington, D.C., which helped to organize the events. The other forums highlighted the regions of California-Baja California, Arizona-Sonora and South Texas-Tamaulipas-Nuevo Leon.

"The (Paso Del Norte) is noteworthy for its enormous size and importance as a manufacturing platform," said Christopher Wilson, associate at the Woodrow Wilson Mexico Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, and co-author of a concept paper on the forums.

"Indeed, Ciudad Juárez was the site of the first maquiladoras, which has left it with a strong legacy and cluster of manufacturers," he said.

Wilson also moderated Friday's panel with O'Rourke, Cuellar, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Bill Owens, D-N.Y.

Owens encouraged southern border communities to study what works at the U.S.-Canadian border, and to develop closer relationships with counterparts across the border.

The mayors of El Paso, Juárez and Las Cruces also addressed the daylong forum, along with other U.S. and Mexican government officials and business leaders.

Juárez Mayor Enrique Serrano said, "None of us by ourselves is strong enough to compete against better-resourced regions of the global economy, but by collaborating and working together, we can present a united and competitive front."

Stefan M. Selig, the U.S. undersecretary of commerce for international trade at the Commerce Department, was the event's keynote speaker.

In addition to the Wilson Center, other partners for the regional forums are USAID Mexico, the Council of State Governments West, the U.S. Congressional Border Caucus and the North American Research Partnership.

For more information, visit wilsoncenter.org/publication/us-mexico-regional-economic-competitiveness-forums-2014