Los Cabos, BCS. The governors of the states that make up the Sea of Cortez agreed on the axes that will help detonate this area as a development pole: regional integration, economic diversification and facilitate the arrival of private investment.
The entities of this region –Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa and Nayarit– represent 9.3% of the total population and 10.8% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP); in economic growth, they averaged an annual rate of 2.4% in the last decade and 4.6% in pre-pandemic ranges, compared to 1.6 and 2.1% in the country, respectively.
When participating in one of the panels of the Sea of Cortez Forum, held last week, the president of Nayarit, Miguel Ángel Navarro Quintero, proposed greater regional integration. “We should see ourselves less as states and more as a region.”
He reported that his government implements programs for the development of infrastructure that allows better regional integration; He emphatically stressed that Nayarit does not want to be just “a pegoste” from the Sea of Cortez region.
“If we who are sitting here (referring to the governors), we decided, together with those present here (businessmen in the area) we will be the richest region in the country,” he deepened.
He even offered to share his entity’s natural resources, such as the water from its five large rivers and the electricity generated in the three hydroelectric dams installed within its territory.
The former senator of the Republic proposed to carry out coordinated work with the private sector to promote the economic development of the region.
Imperative to diversify tourist activity: Castro Cosío
In turn, the South Californian governor, Víctor Manuel Castro Cosío, said that it is imperative to diversify tourism activity in that state, which is, by far, the main economic engine.
He explained that the difficult economic situation, generated by the measures ordered by the health authorities to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, showed that the fact that the state has mainly bet on one activity “put us in a truly sad economic condition . And there are already two (referring to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic) ”.
According to the president, in 2019 the tourist destinations of Baja California Sur received four million tourists and in 2020 it fell by half.
Therefore, he pointed out that a state that diversifies its economy has a greater possibility of structuring an integrating project, although he mentioned that, at least in the short term, it will not be easy to replace tourism as the main engine of the state economy.
According to data from Inegi, the GDP of Baja California Sur amounted to 217,470 million current pesos in 2019, an amount of which 65.1% corresponds to tertiary activities, 31.6% to secondary and 3.3% to primary.
More private investment is required: Rocha Moya
For his part, the governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, stated that this entity requires greater private investment, mainly to add value to the products it generates, especially from the primary sector, in which it is highly competitive.
In that sense, he mentioned that Sinaloa has potential in agriculture and fishing.
At the same time, the moderator of the panel, Valeria Moy, general director of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (Imco), commented that according to the State Competitiveness Index, Sinaloa is the most competitive state of the five that make up the Mar region de Cortés, however, is one of the 10 entities in the country that receives the least Foreign Direct Investment.
Later, the state Executive asserted that private investment is required to transform what is produced there, for example, such as the six million tons of white corn, “but there is not a single flour mill in Sinaloa.”
He pledged to work to achieve a greater link between the public and private sectors, as well as to protect investment.
Clean energies are an alternative: Ávila Olmeda
The governor of Baja California, Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda, said that her administration will seek the best alternatives to continue promoting the generation of clean energy, but adhering to federal guidelines.
The moderator of the panel stated that Baja California ranks 19 in investment in renewable energy and recalled that in 2020 President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated that “never again” would permits for wind energy be granted in La Rumorosa.
In this sense, the president assured that the generation of renewable energies will be promoted, but “adhering to the criteria of the federal government” and taking into account what is happening on an international scale, with the promotion of renewable energies.
“We are looking for the best conditions and opportunities to promote from the different areas of our competence so that the conditions are generated and promote the use of renewable energies in certain sectors,” he said.
Then, in an interview, he expressed that regional economic integration is very important to strengthen state economies, enhancing the different industries that already exist.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx