Mexican retail magnate urges open borders, business partnerships
Mexican businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego spoke at SABEW. Photo by Robin J. Phillips
“Mexicans and Americans are neighbors. That’s the way it is. Fate put us here. Instead of building fences we should be building bridges.”
That sums up the sentiments in an hourlong talk by Ricardo Salinas Pliego, Mexican businessmen and one of Forbes World’s Richest People who serves as president and CEO of Grupo Salinas.
The Mexican retail magnate challenged business editors and reporters at his Friday afternoon talk at SABEW to help challenge the U.S. audience to rethink the relationship between the two countries.
Salinas Pliego said he had no crystal ball, but he described two ways he believes relationships between the countries could progress over the next 10 years:
When asked whether he thought the Obama Administration policies were helping move the two countries toward the Dream Scenario, Salinas Pliego said he didn’t even see a policy on the books.
“I see a willingness by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton to stop the fingerpointing. But you know agencies have a life of their own” Salinas Pliego said. “Homeland Security has a huge budget to build fences. Border Patrol lives on this. I see some disturbing signs of the nightmare scenario.”
But “the opportunities are much greater than the challenges,”said Salinas Pliego, whose holdings include telecommunications, media and retail stores. “Once we cast aside the mutual distrust and sometimes the prejudices that grow between neighbors … we can appreciate the similarities.”
Salinas Pliego said his family is not unlike many Mexican-American families with ties in both countries. “My maternal grandmother was born in Pennsylvania.” he said. “My daughter was born in U.S. while I studied for my MBA. And I control a large number of companies that do business in the U.S.”
An example of good relationships between Mexico and the United States, Salinas Pliego said, is the partnership between the cities of Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, in Tamaulipas, Mexico.
“These are two cities that long ago decided to join forces,” he said. “Brownsville developed a model of sister factories, taking advantage of what each city could do.” Manufacturing is focused on the Mexican side, while engineering and marketing is done efficiently on the U.S. side, he said.
Hoping, perhaps, to speak to the American public through the more than 100 U.S. journalists, Salinas Pliego wrapped up saying: “So, let’s promote a bilateral business, imagine a better future and find a way to get there together.”
