Morelos and SRE Work Together to Attract More Investment

A week ago, Governor of Morelos Cuauhtémoc Blanco announced that he had agreed with top-level officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) to work together to promote the state and increase its attractiveness for investment, with the help of 80 Mexican embassies, in agribusiness, tourism, culture and technological and scientific development. It is also expected that this alliance will strengthen Morelos’ investment attractiveness to help develop the sports sector, as well as to attract national and international competitions to the state, according to the Official Twitter Account of the Government of the State of Morelos. 

Bernardo Aguilar Calvo, Director-General for Europe, César García Mondragón, Director General for Legal Affairs and María José Alcalá responsible for international diplomacy, attended the meeting on behalf of SRE, along with Deputy Director General of Business Linkage Alejandro Pulido García, according to a note from Milenio.

In 2019, foreign direct investment (FDI) in Morelos represented 1.94 percent of Mexico's total FDI (US$33.7 million), according to data from Data México and the Ministry of Economy. Likewise, in 2019, net foreign direct investment in Cuernavaca, the state’s capital, reached a total of US$655 million, 160 percent more than the amount invested during 2017 (US$251 million). Japan is positioned as the first country with more investment in Morelos, followed by Germany, the US, Spain and France.

This is not Morelos’ first effort to attract more investment, since at the beginning of the year Ana Cecilia Rodríguez González, Minister of Economic Development and Labor of Morelos (SDEyT), said the state government planned to privilege economic growth and investment, in addition to consolidating strategies for the sectors of agribusiness, chemicals, biotechnology and energy. 

In an exclusive interview with MBN, Rodríguez explained that the Morelos government is currently working on developing strategies to help businesses access energy efficiently and less expensively. “Energy costs in Morelos are exorbitant since it is one of the few states that does not produce energy. We need to see how we can support companies, considering the social impact this could have and analyzing how we can facilitate cost reductions. Our goal is to foster the use of green energies but we need concrete legislation and an institution that can oversee this,” explained Rodríguez. 

During 2019, Morelos was hoping to build a "structural foundation to foster investment," as well as to boost the state's more than 40 research centers to make way for investment in 2020. “For 2020, we expect to have all this initial analysis completed to start with public biddings and invite investors,” said Rodriguez. 

The Morelos government hopes that its competitive advantages will strongly attract investment to the state. “The first competitive advantage is the closeness we enjoy with Mexico City, together with our climate. Yet, we are not competing with Puebla nor with Queretaro,” said Rodriguez. “We have chosen to boost our tourism calling, especially as a wedding destination and health services provider. We believe that our research centers, combined with our good climate, can lead us to specialize in geriatric health tourism,” she said.