Protocol jitters: President forgets to honour flag in Mexico

MEXICO: President Pratibha Patil gave protocol jitters as she inadvertently passed the Mexican flag at the ceremonial reception without bowing but quickly went back after her attention was drawn by the Mexican Guard Commander.

Patil, who was inspecting a guard of honour by the Mexican Presidential Guards, walked past the flag without realising that her Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon had stopped to pay respect to his country's flag.

The President then moved ahead without stopping before the Indian flag. "Madam President...," the Guard Commander called out and Patil quickly retraced her steps and honoured the flag.

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This story is significant because it shows how such a minor mistake can be made into a large event when your visiting another country. It was very good that the Indian President was visiting Mexico but she needs to be careful when there is so many people watching her.

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Oil sit-in pushes out Mexico MPs

A sit-in protest by leftist politicians over energy reform plans has forced Mexico's Congress to relocate for the first time in almost 20 years.

Lawmakers had to cram into conference rooms to press ahead with routine business on Tuesday.
Leftist MPs seized the podiums of both houses last week in protest at plans to ease limits on private involvement in the state oil giant, Pemex.

The government says Pemex needs outside investment to boost falling production.

Congress has only been forced out of its chamber a handful of times in Mexican history - the last time was in 1989 when the lower house had to evacuate because of a fire.

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This story is significant because an occurence such as this has not happened in years and it is a very big deal. The fact that these MPs were angered enough to protest so harshly makes a clear statement that something should be done to correct this problem.

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Agreement to help cross-marketing in U.S., Mexico

Helping businesses in Mexico find markets in the United States and helping El Paso area businesses find markets in Mexico is one of the aims of an agreement signed Tuesday.

The collaborative agreement between El Paso Community College's Small Business Development Center and its counterpart at Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua (University of Chihuahua) in Chihuahua City, Mexico, was signed by the leaders of the two schools at a ceremony.

"They have needs we can help them with, and they can help us understand business practices in Mexico and Chihuahua," said Roque Segura, director of the Small Business Development Center. "We've done things informally (with the university), but this allows us to leverage more programming."

The agreement calls for sharing business education, program development, research, and international trade assistance, Segura said. The university has a branch in Juárez, which will be involved in the agreement, he said.

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This story is significant because cross-marketing will benefit the US as well as Mexico. The tie between these two countries is constantly being improved and this is one more step towards great improvements.

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Parkway Products opens new facility in Mexico

Parkway Products (Florence, Ky.), a molder of high-performance polymers, announced on March 24 the formation of a comprehensive aerospace molding campus in Mexico. The campus will support the growing demand for aerospace composite structures and assemblies, as well as molded aircraft engine components.

Parkway has been active in the aerospace industry since the 1950s, producing various civil and military aircraft components. Parkway expanded its operations internationally by establishing a molding and assembly facility in Saltillo, Mexico, in 2001. This facility will continue in operation, focusing exclusively on the production of aircraft engine components and assemblies. A second facility, located adjacent to Parkway’s existing location, has been acquired for the purpose of molding composite airframe components. Polymer-based composites are expected to capture a major presence in aerostructures, with composites taking the place of traditionally metal based materials.

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Parkway Products, a molder of high-performance polymers used in the aerospace industry, has announced that they will be constructing an aerospace molding campus in Mexico.

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GDP: Panama Best, Mexico Worst

Panama will continue to have Latin America's highest economic growth, while Mexico will have the lowest, according to a Latin Business Chronicle analysis of new data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

All in all, Latin America is expected to increase its GDP this year by 4.4 percent, the fund said in its latest World Economic Outlook released last week. That's a slight revision upwards from the 4.3 percent GDP growth the IMF had forecast earlier. It's also better than the IMF's forecast for global growth (3.7 percent) and economic growth in the United States (0.5 percent), the European Union (1.8 percent) and newly industrialized Asian economies (3.9 percent). However, Latin America will lag areas like developing Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Commonwealth of Independent States when it comes to GDP growth this year.

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According to a Latin business chronicle analysis, Panama will continue to have the highest level of economic growth and Mexico will have the least amount out of all the Latin American countries. Overall, Latin America is America is projected to raise its GDP this year by 4.4 percent.

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Mexico Congress oil row deepens

Leftist politicians in Mexico who last week stormed both houses of Congress have vowed to remain in protest at planned reform of the state oil giant.

The government says the Pemex oil company needs outside investment to boost falling production and increase exploration for new reserves.

But the protesting deputies and senators argue that this will lead to a creeping privatisation of Pemex.

The protesters want a broad debate on Pemex, in state hands for 70 years.

Leftist deputies and senators have been camped out on the floors of the upper and lower houses since they took over the Congress building last week.

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A group of politicians in Mexico are standing strong with their protests over the planned reform of an oil giant. The protestors are going on a hunger strike and have been camped out since last week.

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