McALLEN, Texas — Fresh off a multi-nation trade summit in the Mexican capital, leadership at RioPlex says global interest in the cross-border industrial corridor has exceeded even their most ambitious expectations.
The organization’s "From the Border to the World" Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Summit in Mexico City drew over 170 attendees. The delegation welcomed representatives from 12 foreign embassies, including envoys from Singapore, Chile, Israel, and Taiwan.
"The event went beyond our expectations," said Mario Reyna, executive director of RioPlex. "We had about 170 people in attendance, with only 30 or 40 coming from our local region. Everyone else came from somewhere else. To see so many high-caliber international delegates curious about what we offer shows the growing global footprint of South Texas and Northern Tamaulipas."
The impressive turnout was no accident. Prior to the event, Reyna and the RioPlex team conducted hands-on diplomatic visits to roughly 26 foreign embassies in Mexico City.
According to Reyna, many foreign trade officials—while familiar with Mexico broadly—were astonished by the scale of logistics, cross-border infrastructure, and commercial traffic flowing through the binational borderlands.
"They were quite taken aback by the amount of activity we have here," Reyna said. "They were particularly interested in our number of international crossings, seaports, and rail connections. Many didn't realize the size of our population or our economic capacity."
To underscore the region's commercial weight, Reyna pointed to recent local sales tax collection data. The RioPlex footprint ranks fourth in Texas for sales tax collection—generating over $400 million and outpacing major metropolitan centers like Austin, Fort Worth, and Arlington, as well as standalone border cities like Laredo and El Paso. Only Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio pull in higher figures.
The summit featured high-level presentations from key regional players, including former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos, RioPlex Chairman Joaquín Spamer, and representatives from the Port of Harlingen and the Port of Brownsville.
Reyna highlighted the transformative industrial developments underway at the Port of Brownsville, alongside massive pending projects across the region—including potential multi-billion-dollar data center investments.
"When you take into account the numbers coming to the Port of Brownsville and couple that with tech infrastructure like data centers—which could grow into a $30 billion long-term footprint without asking for tax incentives—the ripple effect across our entire regional economy is going to be massive," Reyna noted.
The summit also drew significant interest from major Mexican industrial hubs in Guanajuato and Michoacán, particularly companies involved in agribusiness, packaging, and logistics looking for seamless access into the U.S. market.
While the RioPlex team continues following up on investor leads and analyzing contact data from the Mexico City summit, the organization is already planning its next international trade missions.
"RioPlex was created to promote this binational region to the entire world," Reyna said. "In analyzing where we fit best next, Taiwan stands out as a prime destination that matches our regional strengths. Canada is another major priority, especially as international trade realignments prompt companies to look for reliable, strategically positioned investment destinations."
For RioPlex leadership, the message remains clear: South Texas and Northern Tamaulipas are no longer operating as isolated markets, but as a unified, world-class industrial engine.
