INTERNATIONAL TRADE : Mexican Businessmen Visiting O.C. in Search of Trade Opportunities

Executives of 30 Mexican companies located near the Arizona and California borders are visiting Orange County in search of U.S. trade and business partners.

The executives--who represent resort developers and textile, food, agribusiness and telecommunications interests from the states of Baja California and Sonora--want to meet their local counterparts during a two-day business conference and exposition starting May 14 at the Irvine Marriott hotel.

The governors of the two northwestern Mexican states are expected to lead the delegation, which will include buyers and distributors, said Alfredo M. Amezcua, president of the Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Amezcua’s trade group, which is the county’s largest Latino business organization, is sponsoring the event together with the Irvine Chamber of Commerce.

Baja California is one of Mexico’s most urbanized states. Its four major cities--Ensenada, Mexicali, Tecate and Tijuana--are known for their tourist trade and for foreign-owned industrial assembly operations, called maquiladoras. Sonora, which borders Arizona, is Mexico’s second-largest state and is home to several major U.S. assembly plants, including a Ford Motor Co. auto factory.

“This conference was conceived and developed to connect Orange County businesses with the right contacts in Mexico,” said Augustin Cisneros, who is organizing the conference for the chambers.