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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 MEXICO 000379 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
WHA/MX FOR MATT ROTH, BUCK WALDROP, DAN DARRACH; DOC FOR 
MIGUEL HERNANDEZ, CAMERON CUSHMAN, GERI WORD, USTR FOR JOHN 
MELLE, KENT SHIGATOMI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECIN ECON ELTN ETRD MX
SUBJECT: BRIDGES THAT DIVIDE US: FACILITATING US-MEXICO 
COMMERCE 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) The overall message conveyed to Assistant 
Secretary of Commerce David Bohigian during his three-day, 
 
SIPDIS 
three-state tour of the U.S.-Mexican border was that there 
is much that the two federal governments can do to help 
improve cross-border commerce, to the benefit of consumers, 
businesses, and communities.  The U.S. and Mexican business 
leaders and customs officials who met with Bohigian work 
closely with their counterparts on the other side of the 
border to address problems that arise.  Their bilateral 
efforts have lead to impressive results, but they 
emphasized the need for increasing federal attention and 
resources to reduce barriers to border commerce in order to 
reap true benefits from the promises of NAFTA for both 
American and Mexican companies and consumers. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The main concern for all involved parties was the 
long wait times for cargo-laden trucks and day trippers 
when crossing the border into the United States.  Business 
leaders stressed the need for increased U.S. and Mexican 
infrastructure at the ports of entry (POE) into the United 
States, in terms of roads, inspection terminals, and 
customs personnel.  U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(CBP) officials noted that most of their facilities had 
been built decades ago, before NAFTA and Mexico-based 
factories (maquiladoras) producing goods for the American 
market created an enormous upsurge in the number of trucks 
using the POEs.  Business leaders and CBP officials noted 
that while programs such as Fast and Secure Trade (FAST) 
and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C- 
TPAT) have in some cases reduced border wait times for 
trucks, lack of infrastructure and overly-stringent 
regulations impede the real progress that these programs 
intended. Communities have also expressed concern over the 
environmental cost of pollution spewing from vehicle 
engines kept idling in the long lines.  In the absence of 
improved infrastructure, one proposed solution to long wait 
times has been to keep POE inspection facilities open for 
longer hours.  CBP officials expressed openness to the 
idea, as long as businesses pledged to change their 
business QcultureQ by encouraging FAST/C-TPAT certification 
and ensuring a steady stream of cargo traffic throughout 
the extended hours.  Coordination of POEs along the border 
to share best practices can also improve the situation 
without a large budget increase. End summary. 
 
General Setting 
--------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Bohigian and his team observed dedicated and 
talented CBP officials at each POE, who worked closely with 
communities on each side of the border.  Each POE (El Paso, 
Nogales, and San DiegoQs Otay Mesa) had developed 
innovative methods to reduce the wait times for trucks 
entering the United States, while maintaining their high 
security standards.  The need for balancing smooth trade 
with comprehensive security measures was highlighted during 
the tour of the Nogales POE, where CBP officials had just 
seized 1500 pounds of marijuana from one of the cargo 
trucks.  Their willingness to address concerns of the 
business community and their close ties with Mexican 
customs authorities are admirable, especially given 
constraints of the environment in which they operate. 
 
Bohigian Listening Tour 
----------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) Building on a visit in October to Laredo/Nuevo 
Laredo, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Market Access 
and Compliance David Bohigian and staff from the Department 
of Commerce met with community and business leaders and CBP 
officials in the towns and Points of Entry (POEs) of El 
Paso/Ciudad Juarez, Nogales/Nogales, and San Diego/Tijuana 
(Otay Mesa POE) from January 16-18.  Bohigian stressed to 
these communities that the USG is acutely aware of the 
importance of cross-border trade and is looking for ways to 
achieve Qfriction-free tradeQ, striving for an efficient 
flow of goods and services across borders while balancing 
this prosperity with the need for increased security along 
the border. Bohigian noted improvements already made at the 
Detroit/Windsor border crossing because of the extra lanes 
 
MEXICO 00000379  002 OF 008 
 
 
added, and asked his interlocutors for ideas from the 
ground on what is working well and what needs improvement 
at their POEs. He asked for help from business leaders in 
collecting information on how long waits at the border and 
other hold-ups in the supply chain affect their businesses 
and, ultimately, American consumers. 
 
¶5. (U) The groups were grateful for the attention of the 
Department of Commerce on facilitating border trade. Each 
community described strong cultural and economic ties 
between American border cities and their Mexican 
counterparts and strong working relationships with their 
neighbors across the border.  They also demonstrated ways 
in which border communities differ from each other, and how 
NAFTA and increased security regulations have posed 
distinct problems for each community.  In speaking to three 
different communities, however, it was evident that many of 
the issues they face are quite similar.  They all had 
numerous suggestions on how to improve trade efficiency at 
their POEs and along the border. 
 
Infrastructure Woes along the Border 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶6. (U) The main problem all groups pointed to was the long 
wait at the border to enter the United States encountered 
by trucks and passenger vehicles.  For trucks, waits of 
several hours before reaching the point of inspection are 
not uncommon.  Once trucks reach the POE, primary 
inspection usually takes only a few minutes, though trucks 
tagged for secondary inspection are further delayed.  The 
delays at POEs come mostly from a lack of adequate 
infrastructure, either at the POE itself or on the Mexican 
side leading to the POE.  Many of the POEs along the border 
were built to handle cargo and pedestrian traffic at much 
lower rates and have not undergone significant expansions 
in a post-NAFTA economy.  The Otay Mesa POE connecting San 
Diego County to the maquiladoras of Tijuana, Mexico, was 
built in 1944 and has greatly outgrown its capacity.  The 
Mariposa facility in Nogales was built to handle 300 trucks 
per day, while the POE now handles around 1,200 trucks per 
day. 
 
¶7. (U) Expansion of POE facilities cannot sufficiently 
solve wait time problems without corresponding investment 
in road infrastructure leading to the POEs.  At all three 
POEs, for example, both CBP officials and businesses agreed 
that the designated FAST lanes for trucks that are C-TPAT 
certified could significantly reduce wait times.  In 
reality, however, a lack of sufficient road infrastructure 
in Mexico leading up to these new FAST lanes keeps these 
trucks waiting in long lines until they are able to enter 
the FAST lanes.  In El Paso, for example, an additional one 
kilometer stretch of road could be built on the Mexican 
side allowing FAST trucks to enter their lane earlier could 
induce more companies to enroll in the FAST program. 
 
¶8.  (U) Infrastructure problems in El Paso have also caused 
delays, such as the lack of dividers between the FAST lanes 
and regular lanes.  Non-FAST trucks are able to enter FAST- 
designated lanes and then cut back into the non-FAST lanes 
at the last moment, defeating the purpose of designated 
lanes and increasing wait times for FAST trucks.  Simply 
installing QJersey barriersQ (common concrete barriers also 
known as QK-railsQ) to divide the lanes would solve this 
problem; however, according to CBP officials in El Paso, 
lack of funding has so far held up this solution.  Even 
when FAST-trucks go through primary inspection without 
problems, they mix with non-FAST trucks at the bottleneck 
created by the one exit gate at the facility.  CBP 
officials are working to secure funding to build a second 
exit gate designated for FAST trucks. 
 
¶9.  (U) In many cases, private/public initiatives in these 
border communities have been instrumental in advancing 
infrastructure concerns.  In Nogales, for example, business 
and community leaders worked with CBP officials to develop 
plans for a new Mariposa POE facility, and then traveled to 
Washington to lobby for the project.  They secured the 
promise to include funding for the project in the 2007 
budget, though with the 2007 budget currently stuck in 
Congress, the community is worried about the future of the 
project.  In El Paso/Ciudad Juarez and San Diego 
 
MEXICO 00000379  003 OF 008 
 
 
County/Tijuana, local groups are working together closely 
to press for additional roads leading to FAST lanes, as 
well as other infrastructure changes. They have even 
proposed public/private partnership for funding some of 
these projects. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Comment: While local initiatives and partnerships 
have been very effective in these border communities, 
additional support from the federal government on both 
sides is required for these projects to succeed.  In the 
case of building additional roads leading to U.S. FAST 
lanes, for example, even if local private groups pledge 
funding, local, state, and federal authorities on the 
Mexican side must approve the concession for building such 
roads.  Embassy dialogue with the Mexican Secretariat of 
Communications and Transport on this issue might help to 
speed the process, and get the GOM to focus on improving 
border infrastructure. End comment. 
 
¶11. (U) Local groups often focus on construction of new POE 
facilities as solutions for backups, but CBP officials are 
constrained not only by budgets but also by geography.  One 
port director said that the focus should be not on building 
new POEs but on maximizing the existing facilities through 
new technologies, expanding lanes, and increasing staffing 
at POEs.  Some suggest that the use of Qdouble stacked 
inspection boothsQ (where two cars or trucks could be 
inspected at the same time in one booth), while requiring 
more CBP staffing, would allow more vehicles to be 
processed without having to build new lanes. 
 
¶12. (U) The investment of capital POE facilities or roads 
would pay off not only in lower wait times for cargo (and, 
thus, lower prices for U.S. consumers) but also in 
increased security.  One port director said that adequate 
roads leading into his POE would make the wait time for 
trucks entering the POE more predictable.  This would allow 
for the use of GPS tracking of trucks arriving at the 
inspection booths.  A noticeable difference between the 
average time it would take a truck to reach the inspection 
booth and the actual time it took a specific truck could 
alert CBP inspectors to trucks that might have be 
compromised along the way. 
 
New Technologies, Policies Improving Trade 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶13. (SBU) New technologies and practices at the border have 
had a positive impact on wait times for cargo entering 
American POEs.  However, they have also highlighted the 
need for adequate infrastructure to support the new 
technology.  For example, the Automated Commercial 
Environment (ACE) program, recently implemented at many 
cargo POEs, includes a Web-based portal that allows CBP 
inspectors to access information on importers and 
manufacturers in order to create a risk assessment of the 
cargo.  Shipments that score high on this assessment are 
sent to secondary inspection at the POE.  At El PasoQs 
Bridge of the Americas POE, ACE has greatly reduced the 
average processing time for each cargo vehicle.  However, 
this improvement has lead to a marked decrease in the 
percentage of companies participating in the C-TPAT/FAST 
program at this POE, a program that increases the security 
of cargo entering the United States.  The lack of road 
infrastructure leading into the FAST lanes reduces the 
benefits of FAST. 
 
¶14. (SBU) In addition, trucks going through ACE lanes are 
currently less likely to be picked for secondary inspection 
than FAST trucks, further reducing their wait time and 
further reducing the benefits of FAST. The port director 
said that 40% of FAST trucks, which undergo certification 
for the shipments and logistics chains as well as driver 
vetting, are chosen to undergo non-invasive inspection 
(NII) such as gamma ray scanning, as opposed to 18% of non- 
FAST vehicles. Since the inauguration of FAST in 2002, not 
one FAST truck has been seized for illegal practices in El 
Paso, a POE that led the nation in narcotics seizures in 
¶2006. (Note: There may be a discrepancy regarding the 
required percentage of FAST trucks that must undergo NII. 
A port director at another POE said that POEs were once 
mandated to perform NIIs on 40% of FAST trucks, but that 
POEs can now conduct NIIs on FAST trucks according to their 
 
MEXICO 00000379  004 OF 008 
 
 
own discretion.  At his port, for example, 25-30% of FAST 
trucks undergo NII, which he considers a high percentage.) 
 
¶15. (SBU) While the actual percentage of FAST trucks 
singled out for NII is not public, business leaders have 
noticed the difference. They say that they are willing to 
make the financial investment necessary to have their 
companies and trucks C-TPAT certified, but only if they are 
able to maintain a competitive advantage in doing so. 
Unless infrastructure and inspection concerns are met, 
there is little incentive to join C-TPAT/FAST.  Business 
leaders also asked if something might be done to reduce the 
backlog of applications for C-TPAT certification. 
 
¶16. (U) Port directors along the border have welcomed new 
technologies, such as gamma ray scanners, electronic 
manifests, and the ACE program, that both speed up traffic 
through their POEs and increase the security of the cargo 
entering the United States.  At the Otay Mesa POE, for 
example, the ACE system has allowed for the port director 
to create Qvirtual lanesQ when traffic becomes especially 
backed up.  Because ACE is Web based, the director can send 
trucks away from the inspection lanes and into other parts 
of the facility such as the dock while CBP officials 
process them at separate computers, making room for more 
trucks to move into the inspection lanes. 
 
¶17. (U) Otay Mesa also looks forward to implementation of 
the e-manifest requirement for trucks entering California. 
(E-manifests will be required at Arizona POEs starting 
January 25 and later in the year at other POEs.)  E- 
manifests will give the POEs advanced knowledge of cargo 
and its driver, the weakest link in the supply chain, 
several hours in advance. This allows the POE to adjust 
staffing for anticipated high volume hours and be prepared 
for cargo or drivers that may pose a high security or 
health risk.  On the other hand, the El Paso port director 
noted that e-manifests are only as trustworthy as the 
manufacturer or logistics manager who creates the manifest. 
He identified the need for increased cooperation with 
manufacturers, such as through the C-TPAT/FAST program, to 
ensure the trustworthiness of e-manifests. 
 
¶18. (SBU) Comment: New technologies have allowed POEs to 
become more efficient and more secure.  However, 
infrastructure and regulatory constraints have moderated 
the impact of these successes.  As one Ciudad Juarez 
businessman noted, the FAST/C-TPAT program is a good step 
forward in theory, but in practice, FAST trucks may 
experience longer wait times at POEs than non-FAST trucks. 
The benefits for a company enrolled in C-TPAT/FAST should 
be, as one maquiladora described it, shipment 
predictability, a reduction of non-value costs of shipping, 
and better speed to the market.  A further investment in 
infrastructure and personnel on both sides of the border, 
as well as at the offices responsible for processing C-TPAT 
certification, could help FAST live up to its goals. 
Getting manufacturers, logistics companies, and drivers C- 
TPAT/FAST certified is a win-win situation for both the USG 
and industry if the system works as it should.  Companies 
would recoup the expenses of becoming C-TPAT certified by 
ensuring that their cargo makes it to their clients more 
efficiently. At the same time, C-TPAT certified companies 
promise a more secure supply chain and increase the safety 
of the cargo and trucks entering the United States.  End 
comment. 
 
Increasing Hours 
---------------- 
 
¶19.  (U) One common idea raised by business leaders along 
the border was that POEs should be open for longer hours. 
In general, port directors seemed open to this idea, and 
indeed do accommodate the need for longer opening hours and 
longer work weeks during peak season or after holidays. 
Increased hours must be met, however, with a commitment on 
the part of businesses and manufacturers to change their 
shipping practices.  All port directors noted that the 
industries that use their POEs tend to follow the same 
schedules: starting the work day at the same times, loading 
trucks at the same times, and then arriving at the POEs at 
the same high volume periods.  Though businesses have asked 
that the POEs increase their hours of operation, they have 
 
MEXICO 00000379  005 OF 008 
 
 
not made significant changes to their schedules, often 
leaving the POEs having committed to extra hours of 
operation and increased staffing that is being 
underutilized.  The Field Office director in El Paso used 
the example of the Santa Teresa POE in New Mexico, which 
recently installed a new FAST lane and increased its hours 
of operations, at the request of maquiladoras on the other 
side of the border.  The new FAST lane is not being 
utilized to its full capacity, she said, because companies 
are not yet changing their practices to use the Santa 
Teresa facility instead of El Paso.  The experience at the 
Mariposa POE in Nogales has been the same when they have 
tried to extend hours. 
 
¶20. (U) The Bridge of the Americas port director in El Paso 
said that he had issued a challenge to community business 
leaders: if they could increase the percentage of companies 
participating in C-TPAT/FAST, he would increase the number 
of hours the port stays open.  He has asked for a guarantee 
that the FAST lanes would see a volume of at least 20 
trucks per hour.  Because FAST trucks require less 
attention than non-FAST trucks, the affect on staffing 
requirements would be minimal.  While the business 
community stresses the need for round-the-clock operations, 
they also claim that the FAST program needs to start 
improving its benefits before they can ensure new members. 
The port director in Nogales noted that on occasions when 
he has expanded port operations to a seven-day work week, 
businesses have not adapted to the new hours and volume has 
been low. POEs also pointed out that businesses serving the 
trucks, such as customs brokers, industrial parks, 
stevedores, and fuel services, need to adapt their 
practices to ensure normal truck traffic if hours were 
extended. 
 
¶21. (SBU) Comment: In communities such as El Paso/Juarez, 
where over 90% of the cargo traffic originates at 
manufacturers in Juarez, port directors are working closely 
with local industry leaders to encourage them to change 
their practices in exchange for longer opening hours at the 
POEs.  Ensuring the efficacy of the C-TPAT/FAST program 
through the measures mentioned above could help them in 
this endeavor.  POEs such as Nogales, where most cargo 
originates further south in Mexico, require more assistance 
from federal authorities to encourage businesses to adjust 
their practices to encourage extended opening hours at POEs 
and apply for C-TPAT certification to reduce wait times. 
The USG can work with the Mexican authorities and 
transportation and industry organizations to promote such 
incentives and programs. End comment. 
 
Coordinating Agencies 
--------------------- 
 
¶22. (U) United States-Mexico border POEs handle an enormous 
volume of travelers and cargo each year.  The port director 
at NogalesQs Mariposa POE offers this comparison: two of 
the United StatesQs busiest airports, JFK and LAX, handle 
approximately 18 million passengers per year, combined.  In 
2006, NogalesQs POEs handled over 16 million travelers, 
plus their vehicles and cargo, with no advanced 
notification and with significantly less manpower. The 
unique nature of land border POEs processing cargo demands 
involvement not only of customs authorities but also of 
myriad federal and state authorities.  El Paso POEs, for 
example, include officials from the federal Department of 
Transportation (DOT), Texas and New Mexico DOTs, Center for 
Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, and U.S. 
Department of Agriculture.  Trucks entering the United 
States through the El Paso POEs must undergo separate 
inspections at separate facilities by both the U.S. DOT and 
the Texas DOT after going through CBP inspections, 
resulting in a duplication of efforts and bottlenecks.  The 
California and Arizona POEs did not seem to have the same 
problem, and cited proactive relations between federal and 
state officials. 
 
¶23. (SBU) Comment: CBP authorities mentioned that 
duplication of efforts between US and Texas DOTs cannot be 
addressed at a local level.  Encouraging cooperation 
between federal and local authorities could help address 
some of the backups at POEs.  Infrastructure changes, such 
as following NogalesQs example of QsuperboothsQ that house 
 
MEXICO 00000379  006 OF 008 
 
 
CBP, Arizona DOT, and Federal Motor Carrier Association 
officials for Qone-stop shoppingQ, at other POEs might also 
help reduce the number of stops trucks must make upon 
entering the United States, and thus reduce bottlenecks and 
wait times. End comment. 
 
Sharing Best Practices 
---------------------- 
 
¶24.  (SBU) The QsuperboothsQ of Nogales and the Qvirtual 
inspectionsQ of Otay Mesa are examples of the forward 
thinking, innovative ideas born of necessity at these POEs. 
Yet while Washington-mandated practices were generally 
uniformly carried out along the border, these resourceful 
practices originating at individual POEs were not 
duplicated by their colleagues elsewhere along the border. 
In some cases, this may be due to the different 
circumstances of each POE.  There is more physical space at 
flat Otay, for example, than there might be at Nogales. 
Solutions that work at one POE may not be immediately 
transferable to others, but they can be adapted to suit the 
specific needs of individual POEs.  Other best practices 
that merit consideration include OtayQs designation of a 
lane for the exclusive use of empty trucks to increase 
efficiency, a practice that might benefit El Paso, where 
empties make up about 50% of cross-border cargo traffic. 
El PasoQs connections with the local business community and 
local authorities are also a model that can be adapted to 
other POEs. (Comment: Federal authorities in Washington 
should encourage regular opportunities for port directors 
along the Mexican and Canadian borders to exchange ideas 
and best practices.  The ingenuity that local CBP port 
directors and field office directors bring to solving 
problems on the ground should be built upon to benefit the 
entire border rather than just individual POEs. End 
comment.) 
 
Communities Divided by Bridges 
------------------------------ 
 
¶25.  (U) Border communities depend on each other for 
economic success.  The extent of these communities 
interdependence is evident on a trip to a Costco or Walmart 
on the U.S. side of the border, where the majority of cars 
have Mexican license plates, even though these stores are 
available on the Mexican side, too.  Community leaders in 
El Paso/Juarez described the bridges spanning the Rio 
Grande as Qthe only obstacleQ between their cities.  The 
mayor of Nogales, Sonora, reminded Washington that bridges 
between Sonora and Arizona are Qmade of people, not just 
steel.Q Locals refer to either Nogales, Arizona or Nogales, 
Sonora as QAmbos NogalesQ--translated as Qboth NogalesQ-- 
reflecting the close ties of the communities. 
 
¶26. (U) In meetings with business and local and federal 
authority representatives, border communities stressed to 
Bohigian again and again how interdependent the people and 
the economies of their cities are.  In El Paso, local 
authorities cautioned Washington from viewing their city as 
a separate entity from their neighbor across the river. 
They noted that the loss of jobs in Ciudad Juarez 
negatively impacts businesses in El Paso that depend on 
Mexican customers to buy their goods and services.  Leaders 
in San Diego and Tijuana noted that they have conducted 
joint trade missions in Asia.  They expressed their worries 
over the impact of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative 
(WHTI), which in 2008 will require U.S. citizens to present 
a passport upon reentering the United States through a land 
border POE.  Mexican businesses fear that the WHTI will 
lessen the number of Americans crossing into Mexico for 
tourism and shopping, while American businesses fear that 
the longer lines that inspection of U.S. citizens 
passports will create may discourage Mexicans from heading 
north for shopping. 
 
¶27. (U) In addition to worries about long waits for people 
crossing the border, these communities remarked that long 
waits for trucks result in a negative environmental impact 
due to air pollution from idling trucks.  Insufficient road 
infrastructure in Mexico results in crowding already 
crowded streets in urban areas, and trains stopping at the 
border for crew changes and inspections cut cities in half. 
 
 
MEXICO 00000379  007 OF 008 
 
 
¶27.  (SBU) Comment: While local groups sometimes think they 
could solve border problems on a local level without the 
interference of federal authorities, the security and 
prosperity of these communities depend on forward-thinking 
initiatives on the part of the federal governments of the 
United States and Mexico.  Representatives from consulates 
along the border (as well as local CBP officials) already 
participate in most of the local organizations discussing 
cross-border issues affecting their communities.  The 
Embassy can bring these communitiesQ concerns to the 
attention of federal authorities.  In addition, officials 
in Washington can continue to solicit the cooperation and 
suggestions of these groups and address their concerns. 
Increased public awareness campaigns organized in 
conjunction with local American groups and with Mexican 
tourism representatives, for example, might help to both 
alleviate fears regarding the WHTI implementationQs effects 
on local economies while also facilitating a smoother 
transition to the new system. End comment. 
 
Looking to the Future 
--------------------- 
 
¶28.  (U) Infrastructure and practices at border POEs have 
been slow to adapt to greatly increased demand on their 
personnel and facilities brought about by NAFTA. 
Improvements at the border must look at new changes that 
are already affecting cross-border commerce.  For instance, 
increased trade with Asia, and especially with China, has 
increased the stress on American ports.  Asian exporters 
are looking to Mexico to avoid waits at seaports such as 
Long Beach, California.  Anticipated investment in Mexican 
seaport and railroad infrastructure, such as at Punta 
Colonet, will also put more stress on land ports along the 
border.  The USG should coordinate such projects with the 
GOM to anticipate such changes and adapt infrastructure and 
staffing at border POEs accordingly. 
 
¶29.  (U) New technologies also provide a unique opportunity 
for the USG and GOM to work together to facilitate trade. 
The use of electronic seals of cargo, such as those used 
for in-bond shipments landing in the United States but 
intended for consumers outside the United States, could be 
expanded for cargo from Mexico destined for the United 
States, both on trucks and rail containers.  Electronic 
seals would both reduce the need for invasive inspections 
and reduce the security risk of cargo shipments headed into 
the United States. Several border groups are already 
investigating the use of new technologies to improve cross- 
border trade, and the USG should seek to encourage and test 
these innovations. 
 
Conclusion and Comment 
---------------------- 
 
¶30.  (SBU) Quantifying the value of time saved crossing the 
border is a difficult task, but it is important in 
understanding how interdependent the economies and citizens 
of Mexico and the United States are increasingly becoming. 
By engaging in productive dialogue with each other and with 
local organizations, the USG and the GOM can advance both 
short- and long-term projects to facilitate cross-border 
commerce to benefit both our countries.  Improving 
conditions at border crossings can be accomplished by 
responding to concerns of business leaders and efforts of 
CBP officials on the ground with a combination of increased 
monetary and personnel resources from the USG to improve 
POE infrastructure; USG efforts to coordinate 
infrastructure improvements with the GOM and to press for 
equivalent changes at Mexican POEs; and coordination 
between all USG POEs to share some of the best practices 
that they have individually developed to facilitate trade. 
A renewed and future-oriented commitment to facilitating 
cross-border trade will directly benefit not only border 
communities but also American and Mexican companies and 
consumers while continuing to ensure the safety and 
security of our nation. 
 
¶31. (U) A/S BohigianQs office has cleared this cable. 
 
 
 
 
 
MEXICO 00000379  008 OF 008 
 
 
GARZA