McALLEN, Texas — RioPlex, the cross-border economic initiative created to market South Texas and Northern Tamaulipas as a unified industrial destination, is heading to Mexico City this week with a clear objective: showcase the region’s expanding binational manufacturing footprint and persuade global corporate leaders to commit their next wave of capital to the borderlands.
On Sept. 9–10, regional business, municipal, and economic development officials will convene at the Hilton Mexico City Reforma for the RioPlex Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Summit: From the Border to the World.
The two-day summit will bring bi-national leadership together with foreign diplomats, trade ministers, site selectors, and corporate executives representing key international investment offices, including SelectUSA.
The mission comes as global manufacturing supply chains continue to reconfigure toward North America. Regional leadership aims to position the bi-national trade corridor as a cohesive economic powerhouse equipped with 89 industrial parks, seven commercial airports, 13 international bridges, three deepwater ports, and SpaceX’s Starbase facility.
“Our region has the people, the infrastructure, and the economic capacity to compete at a much higher level,” said Mario Reyna, executive director of RioPlex. “The purpose of going to Mexico City is to put those strengths directly in front of people making international investment decisions and to show them what is already being built here, particularly in advanced manufacturing, where our region has an extraordinary opportunity to grow.”
Originally launched out of the Prosperity Task Force’s CEO Group, RioPlex was established as a regional branding and economic development vehicle to transcend municipal borders and present the Rio Grande Valley and Tamaulipas border cities as a single bi-national metroplex.
Recent regional milestones have further bolstered the initiative’s reach, including the McAllen Foreign Trade Zone No. 12 formally partnering with RioPlex late last year to streamline international trade operations across the trade corridor.
The summit’s delegation features a broad coalition of public- and private-sector leaders from both sides of the Rio Grande.
Among those scheduled to participate are McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos, Brownsville Mayor John Cowen Jr., Reynosa Mayor Carlos Peña Ortiz, Tamaulipas Secretary of Economy Ninfa Cantú Deándar, former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos, and RioPlex Chairman Joaquín Spamer. Officials representing the Port of Brownsville, Port of Harlingen, CODEM, Consejo de Negocios Regional, SelectUSA, and local private enterprises will also take part.
Spamer, president and founder of Commodities Integrated Logistics (CIL) Group and co-founder of RioPlex, emphasized that the regional strategy is designed to demonstrate that cross-border supply chain integration is already operating successfully at scale.
“Our region is already proof that North American supply chains can work across the border at scale,” Spamer, RioPlex’s chairman, said. “The next step is to build on what is already working, with trust, reliability, and long-term partnership, so that more companies can invest, grow, and succeed here.”
The summit program kicks off the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 9, with an opening networking reception for international delegates and trade envoys.
The main conference program takes place on Thursday, Sept. 10, beginning with an opening keynote address by South Texas College economist Dr. Kevin Peek titled “The New Geography of Investment.”
Subsequent panel sessions throughout the day will focus on:
For RioPlex leadership, taking the regional showcase directly to the Mexican capital is the logical next step in building a globally recognized industrial brand.
“It is an opportunity to show the international investment community what South Texas and Northern Tamaulipas are already accomplishing together, and to use those successes as the foundation for the region’s next stage of growth,” Reyna added.
