Two Groups Seek To Aid Small Georgia Firms In Mexico and Europe

          Two Mexico City-based small business development organizations, the National Chamber of the Manufacturing Industry in Mexico (Canacintra) and Eurocentro Canacintra, are seeking the first Georgia companies to utilize their services for locating joint venture partners in Mexico and in Europe.

          International investors “can be disillusioned” by Mexico’s thick bureaucracy, Canacintra international business consultant, Amcir Montaño, told GlobalFax during an interview at her Mexico City office. “Small companies, especially, need Canacintra’s familiarity with the business environment and legal structure in Mexico,” she asserted.

Ms. Montaño noted that the small- and medium-sized Canadian textile and furniture companies for which she has helped find Mexican partners especially had problems with the Mexican legal system when trying to set up operations or invest there. The legal structure is very different in Canada or the U.S., she noted, with rigid constitutional laws that can be obstacles for foreign companies.

In Europe, small- and micro-enterprises face similar problems with not knowing the system and, thus, should partner with European firms, said Xochitl Calderón, executive director of Eurocentro Canacintra, during an interview in Mexico City.

Eurocentro in Mexico is one of 30 such small business centers in Latin America that has developed small business linkages throughout Europe.

Ms. Calderón said it is also smart for small U.S. firms with Mexican operations to trade with Europe through Mexico because the European Union-Mexico free trade agreement eliminates duties on 95% of the goods traded between Mexico and the EU.

          Both Ms. Montaño and Ms. Calderón said that small Georgia companies, especially high tech companies, may contact Canacintra or Eurocentro to use their extensive databases of small- and micro-enterprise affiliates.

          Canacintra has some 30,000 affiliate corporations from 11 eleven industrial sectors in Mexico. Its 80 delegations throughout Mexico represent 115 business specialty areas. Main offices are in Mexico City, Toronto and Dartmond, Germany. For more information, contact Ms. Montaño at internacional@canacintra.org.mx. Visit the Spanish Web site at www.canacintra.org.mx.

          Eurocentro’s European headquarters are in Dartmond, Germany, and its central office in North America is in Mexico City. Contact Ms. Calderon at canacintra@eurocentro.org.mx, (015) 563-78-83, fax (015) 598-89-80. Visit www.eurocentro.org.mx/canacintra for the Spanish Web site. Canacintra and Eurocentro consultants speak English.