The first participant was Alejandra De la Vega, Secretary of Innovation and Economic Development in Chihuahua. 

She informed about the plan established from the state of Chihuahua to fight back against the economic struggles that’ll come next months after Covid19 appearance in the region.

Also, she commented that the administration is focused on helping vulnerable groups, since their economic problems could trigger social and security issues.


“It is this people from the informal economy that, if we do not provide a safety net, are the one that can easily start committing robberies or crimes to get food or subsistence for their families”. Alejandra De la Vega stated.


She mentioned that one of the biggest challenges is to manage the state budget for many reasons, among those: that the Federal Government distributes the budget; the state had to change priorities to save the small businesses; and their objective of reducing the state debt.

The discrepancies between the Mexican and American Governments were emphasized by De la Vega regarding the definition of which are essential businesses, and which are not; as other participant had done in a previous webinar.

She concluded that this region is one of the most competitive once in the world, and that’ll continue to be so after the pandemic, as long as private and public sectors work together.


After her, Rick Francis, President and CEO of WestStar Bank, informed about the economic and health analysis been made every single day, as well as it’s difficulties.

One of the main issues in the analysis of the curve that governments try to flatten, are the test being made.


“The test were being processed in batches, so it was hard to really tell from day by day because a lab would process 3 days’ worth of test in one day, it would look like you had a spike, but in reality they were testing 3 days’ worth”. Commented Rick Francis.


He reassured the citizenship to not take decisions based on fear, stating that we’ll enter a recession that’d feel like a depression if people don’t go back to work. 

His opinion is that, in contrast with The Great Depression, this recession didn’t come out of Walls Street, it came out of Main Street. In other words, making people quarantine in their homes has provoked the recession and it’s necessary to act according to avoid making it worse.

Finally, Marco Grajeda, Director of New Mexico Border Authority, informed about the affectations in import and export in the border region.

He informed that, even though there’s been a low crossing of private vehicles, many businesses in the Santa Teresa area have been declared essential, so a lot of medical equipment is still being crossed, as well as other basic products normally.


“We’re preparing a bill designed work on a major road that will create a direct road between the city of Sunland Park and Santa Teresa point of entry and we’re also leading efforts to expand and modernize the Santa Teresa point of entry”.


Also, he stated that a good binational relationship has allowed the essential cargo to cross from one side of the border to the other with ease and added that they’re having online town hall meetings with business owners from Chihuahua to maintain this collaboration.


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