Remarks From Consul General
En la Inauguración del Congreso “La Capacidad Competitiva en la Pequeña Empresa”
Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara
21 mayo 2007
Lic. Emilio González Márquez, Gobernador de Jalisco,
Lic. Antonio Leaño Reyes, Rector de la Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara,
Presidentes Municipales de la Zona Metropolitana de Guadalajara,
Lic. Héctor Barreto,
Distinguidos Miembros del Presidium e Invitados de Honor,
Audiencia aquí en Guadalajara y ustedes en otros sitios y otros paises,
Amigos todos,
Muy buenos días!
Thank you for the invitation to participate in the inauguration of this Congress. This is an important initiative on the part of the University. I congratulate you on bringing together so many business people, government officials and others throughout the hemisphere who are involved in building businesses and creating the environment for business to grow.
Recently the U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson visited Mexico City and commented on two long-held, but mistaken, beliefs about starting a company. The first is that a person needs to be wealthy to create a business. The second is that all jobs are created by large corporations. Neither of these ideas is supported by the facts.
In reality, in Mexico today, micro, small and medium-sized businesses represent 95% of registered businesses and account for 38% of jobs in the formal sector. The growth of these businesses has been assisted through several programs run by the U.S. Agency for International Development in Mexico. For example, the Embassy’s Micro and Rural Finance Program provides training and technical assistance to Mexican financial institutions interested in providing financial services to businesses and individuals that traditionally have not had access to such opportunities. Small companies need access to adequate credit and financial services that fit their specific needs to be able to grow and create employment.
We’re all familiar with the successful American businesses that started out small and grew to be successful giants, international giants. Ford, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and Nike are names that are recognized around the world. But not all successful companies grow to be giants, and even successful giants have to continually adjust and adapt to changing market conditions. Sometimes it’s the small or medium-sized company that is flexible enough to move into a new product line or reorganize for a new trade environment, to take advantage of local employment opportunities.
I admit that I’m not a businessman and never have been. From my current office, however, we look at the conditions that are necessary to stimulate economic growth, attract investment, and create employment opportunities. It’s a complex mix of ingredients that includes transparency and accountability, rule of law and effective judicial administration, environmental awareness and compliance, clear customs procedures, enforcement of anti-monopoly legislation, security, job training, as well as technical, university and foreign language training, and many more factors. We are glad to see the Government of Jalisco and the Government of Mexico working to bring about these conditions for businesses of all sizes to grow. The U.S. Government and its many offices in Mexico look forward to working with you to reach those goals.
Thank you again for the opportunity to speak with you this morning. I wish you success in this week’s meetings.
Gracias y muy buenos días.