Newsletter: Houston MOTIA June 2021 Highlights

Dear Friends of the Mayor’s Office of Trade and International Affairs (MOTIA),

As summer arrives and travel accelerates, Houston is beginning to welcome global visitors, conferences, and events. This month, we celebrated the new location of the Consulate General of Mexico in Houston with the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico. We also hosted a conversation on vaccine distribution with the Government of Ecuador, welcomed the Minister of Petroleum, Gas and Mining from Gabon, and a new Dean of the Houston Consular Corps, The Honorable Rodolfo Coronado, Consul General of Peru in Houston.

As we look forward, we are preparing for a number of senior foreign visitors and Comicpalooza through July, and the return of the Offshore Technology Conference in August. We are also looking to further engage our innovation ecosystem with foreign partners, while building on Houston's already strong global economic partnerships.

Finally, with the start of the Atlantic hurricane season upon us, please remember to be prepared and make a plan. Resources can be found at Ready Houston and Houston Office of Emergency Management (OEM).

Sincerely,

On June 18, Mayor Sylvester Turner welcomed H.E. Marcelo Ebrad, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, to the City of Houston for the opening of the new location of the Consulate General of Mexico in Houston. Led by The Honorable Alicia Kerber, Consul General of Mexico in Houston, the celebration was joined by Mr. Roberto Velasco Alvarez, Vice-Minister for North American Affairs, Mr. Luis Gutierrez, Director General for Mexican Diaspora, and Mr. Jose Antonio Dominguez, Head of Administration Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.

In 2020, Houston had the honor of virtually celebrating the 100th anniversary of the consulate opening its doors to the people of Houston, and this year we gathered in person to celebrate the opening of the consulate’s new location. Mexico is Houston’s second largest trading partner, and in some years our top trading partner, with trade averaging more than $19 billion a year. The opening of the new consulate highlights the strong, vibrant, and dynamic relationship between Houston and Mexico. Thank you to Consul General Kerber and the entire team at the consulate for their continued commitment to assist Houstonians! View the press release here.

On June 22, Mayor Sylvester Turner welcomed The Honorable Cynthia Viteri, Mayor of the City of Guayaquil, Ecuador to Houston, where they discussed collaboration and assistance on security and health. During this trip to Houston, Mayor Viteri also met with Chief Samuel Peña of the Houston Fire Department (HFD) to discuss future collaboration and city-to-city exchanges, centered on ways Houston can help Guayaquil ensure the safety and wellbeing of their citizens after natural disasters and the ongoing Covid pandemic.

Houston and Guayaquil have been sister cities since 1987. Over the years, the Houston Guayaquil Sister City Association (HGSCA) has maintained close ties between HFD and the Guayaquil Fire Department, arranging personnel exchanges and equipment transfers. Last year, HFD collaborated with the U.S. Consulate in Guayaquil to donate a shipping container filled with surplus fire equipment to Guayaquil (read more here). The donation prioritized firefighting personal protective equipment including jackets, gloves, boots, helmets, suspenders, masks, harnesses, hoses, life jackets, and more than a thousand portable radios valued at $3.6 million.

Additionally, the Director of the Houston Health Department (HHD), the Chief Medical Officer, and several HHD officials met virtually with health officials from the Government of Ecuador to discuss Houston's experience in Houston's vaccine distribution to better enable vaccine distribution throughout Ecuador.

On behalf of MOTIA, Global Trade Manager for Latin America and Asia Stephanie Brooks attended the official opening of the Costa Rican Exports Promotion Agency ceremony. This is PROCOMER's 4th office in the U.S., and 30% of Costa Rica's international trade with the USA is with the state of Texas alone.

“It is for these reasons, and others such as opportunities in information and communications technology, creative industries, biotechnology and life sciences, digital animation, advanced manufacturing, and medical technologies, that we decided to increase our presence in this state." said Pedro Beirute Prada, General Manager of PROCOMER. Studies carried out by PROCOMER identified increased potential for exports to the southern and eastern USA, in sectors such as food service, information and communications technology (ICT), agricultural products, roasted coffee, health care services, the aerospace industry, and artisan beer.

We look forward to the new tourism and economic opportunities that the PROCOMER office will open between Houston and Costa Rica.

The Houston District Export Council, the U.S. Commerce Commercial Service, and MOTIA partnered together to present "Scanning the Horizon at the USMCA's First Anniversary: Sunny Skies or Storm Clouds?"

Nearly a year after the implementation of NAFTA's replacement, relatively few problems have surfaced for the tri-national USMCA trade agreement. However, some sensitive issues remain unsettled such as auto industry rules of origin, dairy trade across the US and Canadian border, and labor provisions across the US and Mexican border. In addition, the Mexican elections offer a potential referendum on the direction of energy reform, and trade with China and migration from Central America loom large over the USMCA's implementation. If that wasn't enough, COVID-19 has impacted all three countries in different ways. Missed the webinar, watch the recording here.

On behalf of the City of Houston, Vice Mayor Pro-Tem Martha Castex-Tatum, Houston City Council Member Abbie Kamin, and MOTIA Director Christopher Olson welcomed the Israeli National Defense College (INDC) delegation to Houston to learn about how diversity is a unique strength to our city and serves as a vital contribution to many aspects of a multicultural society. This event is a part of a two-week learning tour in the U.S., which provided the INDC participants with a better understanding of the American system and the characteristics of the U.S. as a global power.

INDC is Israel's highest institution for training senior staff in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the security establishment, as well as senior officials in government ministries and agencies, for senior positions. The INDC is designed to be a national institute for comprehensive and in-depth study of all national security elements.

MOTIA welcomed Asian Restaurant Month and was hosted to a lunch by the Asian Chamber of Commerce Houston (ACC) with Vice Chair, Kenneth Li, Executive Director of the Southwest Management District and Partner at Hawes Hill & Associates, Alice Lee, and Visit Houston Asia-Pacific Account Director and Leo Yao. ACC is a strong advocate for Asian Americans, and contributed tremendously to the coordination of food and mask distributions for all Houstonians during the pandemic. We thank you for the contributions of all Houstonians of Asian descent in helping to make Houston the most diverse and inclusive city in the U.S.