October 15, 2007
Mexican President To Revive Puebla-Panama Plan
Presidency of the
Republic
Villahermosa, Tabasco
ˇ Excerpts from an October 9 speech by Mexican President Felipe Calderón, at the First Meeting for the Integration
of Governors in the South-Southeast Region
Six months have gone by since we met in Campeche. On that
occasion we agreed on the need for the federal government, and the governments of the states in the south-southeast of Mexico,
to give an added boost to what has so far been called the Puebla-Panama Plan.
At that time the possibility of implementing these efforts
seemed remote. Now however, as I have the responsibility of being President of Mexico and the opportunity to share these reflections
with you, I want you to know that I share your conviction that backwardness and underdevelopment are located in the south
of Mexico.
And yes, we have to advance within an integral policy and
recover this specific sustainable development plan for the south-southeast of the country, either by reinforcing the commissions
or through a technical secretariat, as suggested by Governor Ivonne Ortega of Yucatán; through the creation of a multi-annual
trust as Governor Andrés Rafael Granier Melo [Tabasco] suggested;
[and/or] through mechanisms we already have, such as the reforms established by Congress that allow multi-annual spending
of funds on the one hand, and establish specific funds for states with lower levels of development on the other.
Regarding the issues that have been dealt with, I would like
to mention some of the progress and challenges we have drawn from the Campeche Summit.
As to infrastructure, we have already mentioned some of the
advances achieved as well as some of the issues still pending, which I would like to review here.
We are going to develop multimodal corridors, one from Salina
Cruz, Oaxaca, to Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, as I said in the Trans-Isthmus Corridor; [and we will] build port terminals in Campeche
[and] Quintana Roo; promote works for potable water supply to both large cities and those with traditional shortages of water,
for example Chilpancingo, Guerrero; as for Acapulco, it paradoxically has an enormous availability of water however the required
infrastructure has yet to be built.
With respect to tourism infrastructure, we will relaunch
an entire tourist project intended for Huatulco that has to be re-planned. We are going to connect it by road, and we are
already designing a complete project to relaunch this tourist resort, which has received an enormous amount of federal funds
for decades yet failed to achieve its full potential.
As regards to the environment, we have the Project for the
Industrial Forestry Basin in the Gulf of Mexico, which will be used precisely to take advantage of the enormous potential
of the region's environmental conditions.
I suggest that we work together to implement a Program for
the Integral Development of the South-Southeast that will imply a Program for the Development of the Southern Border, an integral
analysis of the issues you have commented on at this meeting, which I agree with.
I am convinced that with joint work between the south-southeast
of Mexico, Central America and Columbia, we will be able to promote this and other projects to cope with the challenges our
countries face with regards to development.
Today, October 9, 2007 at 13:00, I formally declare the end
of this meeting, and I am sure that its conclusions will be vital for the development of Mexico and our sister nations in
Mesoamerica.
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(Press Release: Presidency of the Republic, October 9, 2007,
Villahermosa, Tabasco)
Translation [edited]: Presidency of the Republic
