Martín Paredes

Today I launched the first paper in my Mexico Studies Project.

FACT SHEET: United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service - January 2008

The final provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) were fully implemented on January 1, 2008. Launched on January 1, 1994, NAFTA is one of the most successful trade agreements in history and has contributed to significant increases in agricultural trade and investment between the United States, Canada and Mexico and has benefited farmers, ranchers and consumers throughout North America.

An e-El Paso Initiative Plan - Leveraging the Internet for a vibrant and economically prosperous borderplex was written in June 2001.

Abstract

El Paso and Cd. Juárez currently sit on the crossroads of economic prosperity in the gold rush of the 21st century. The Internet has a created a mechanism whereby the borderplex can become the next “Silicon Valley” of the world’s e-commerce rush. With the inherent infrastructure in labor and resources the border region offers, the establishment of e-commerce development and implementation will benefit the region for decades to come. By implementing this initiative as a team, both El Paso and Cd. Juárez would lead the way to global e-trading.

This white paper presents a preliminary concept of how the communities can leverage the Internet as a tool for economic prosperity of the border region, specifically El Paso, Texas and Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, México.

This is one of the first white papers I produced. It was written in 1991 as the basis for a startup company looking to do business on both sides of the border.

The introduction and the conclusion follow. You can download the entire document at the bottom.

From: North American Free Trade Agreement - A Hesitant Handshake Between Neighbors first published in May 1991.

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION

One of the greatest pleasures I derive from the Internet is the sharing of culture and identity. I wish I had the resources to visit each country and take in the cultural identity humanity has to offer. Fortunately for me some individuals have satisfied my appetite for getting to know other cultures by producing blogs, a website or participating in the numerous social networking sites in cyber space. I few years ago I decided to share a little bit about my culture, one of my favorite childhood events, the breaking of the piñata.