Economy, growth, development, investments, tourism and infrastructure: these were the main topics discussed in the interview with the Governor of the State of Aguascalientes in Mexico, María Teresa Jiménez Esquivel, known as Tere Jimenez, at the Mexican Embassy in Italy. The Governor is here in Italy on a visit to promote her State and meet Italian companies.
We would like to start with a slightly more personal question before talking about the State. Since you were successful and were the youngest mayor of Aguascalientes, also re-elected, and then in 2022 you became the first female Governor of the State, in this journey have you also faced difficulties, gender discrimination as a woman?
My political career began very early at 18 years old. I have always thought that we are in the same ring in a public office, men and women. What made it easier for me is that there is an equality in being able to advance, make a career and on a psychological level I was ready for any type of circumstance and to be able to win because I won all the battles I fought. 4 electoral games and I always increased the polls and votes in my favor thanks to the people. The people trusted me. There are tests that they make me do every day, governing, and the population approves them, in the field of security, health, education, infrastructure and today we are in Italy in terms of economic relations to bring Italian investments to Aguascalientes, to generate jobs that give dignity to the person who helped us to have coordination between the citizens and the government and this all helped her to get to this point to be the first governor of Aguascalientes which is a state in economic growth, stable, where people live happily.
Governor, regarding the fact that your state is characterized by a recent growth in the industrial sector, in which field?
Automotive where we have grown the most, but also in the agri-food sector, all agricultural materials that we export to many countries. Also in the textile sector, the fabrics that we have and that help Aguascalientes to have a diversification of economic growth, but first of all the automotive sector. The fact that we are in the center of the American continent, the United States, Canada and Latin America, has helped us, we are right in the center geographically and this helps us to be a strategic point at a logistical level for the entire automotive industry and that we can have our relationship at an international level for the automotive sector. Today we are here in Italy precisely for this field and a company that will arrive in Aguascalientes and that will grow there. We know that we will give the best results, the workforce there is very qualified, with high quality human resources. The products made in Aguascalientes are of quality and this helps us to have great prestige so that more and more companies continue to arrive in Aguascalientes.
Among the foreign investments that you have received in 2024, are there also Italian investments, or companies already there in the State or that are about to invest?
Yes, there are 10 Italian companies that are in Aguascalientes in different sectors and we will continue to have these economic and friendly ties and for that we are interested that more and more companies continue to arrive in the State, with the certainty that each investment will be respected by the resource that will come to invest, private property will be respected, and they can count on a government that will help in all the practices, in the management to give the possible facilitations to grow Italian companies in Aguascalientes and throughout Mexico.
Can you say some names of Italian companies already there and if there are companies from Aguascalientes that invest in Italy?
Mainly they are automotive companies that have invested for example Marelli, which is related to the automotive part and Nissan which has 2 plants, 1 instead of Mercedes-Benz where Infiniti is also manufactured. Furthermore, we have companies that are in the food sector such as Ferrero where confectionery is produced, also companies in different fields and we would love to increase relations with a strategic ally such as Italy.
As regards tourism, often the governors or delegations of other Mexican states have been here at the Embassy for the promotion, in addition to the important economic development, is your State also a tourist destination? Are you also focusing on this sector and are there any tourist attractions considered a must to visit?
Yes, Aguascalientes is a very Catholic state, because we are in an area of the “ancient Cristeros”, as we call them, the ancient Christians, in the history of Catholicism and therefore we have a specific religious itinerary. For example, we have the broken Christ “Cristo Roto” which is located in San José de Gracia, it is a Christ that is on one leg and one arm that is in the middle of a dam of water and people arrive with a sort of dinghy towards this Christ and we also have the Holy Cross “Santa Cruz”, near Calvillo, a very colorful, peculiar municipality and a cross that is on a hill that can also be reached on foot. We are one of the states where economic traffic passed many years ago; we were the crossroads of the land route where people arrived on horseback and here all the relationships, commercial transactions of the time were managed. We have many farms that are centuries old, also an observatory to see the stars, the planets that we installed two years ago, that every time there was an eclipse and all the theme related to astronomy many events and important projects took place. We have an area, being in the center of the Republic, where in Aguascalientes you can enjoy and experience all the Mexican culture, from everything that is textile parts for example handmade, embroidery, the culture of fabrics takes place there. We have the wine route, 24 wineries with 200 types of wine, also awarded internationally in Brussels in 2024, awarded in Japan in 2023, and last year in first place worldwide for wines, and this places Aguascalientes on an itinerary where you can visit the different wineries and see the entire process of wine production. Aguascalientes is a cultural wealth. All history has been lived being at the center of the Republic, all the peace alliances, all the treaties have taken place for many centuries, they were made right in Aguascalientes, being a crossroads of peace, of coexistence between the different forces of power, armed forces that over the years have fought for Mexican territory and therefore Aguascalientes is the crossroads of peace and agreements to no longer make war. In a few days, from April 19th to May 11th, we will have an international fair and the best fair in Latin America, which is called “Feria Nacional de San Marcos” where we will have for 23 days, artists who are totally free at an international level and this year Tiesto for example in addition to having a whole series of artists who come for free like One Republic, Scorpions, The Killers. There was Alejandro Sanz, Enrique Iglesias, Christina Aguilera last year, like Ricky Martin, Sting. The best artists at an international level are in Aguascalientes these days and I repeat totally free of charge and from there the San Marco Fair opens, which is a commercial point between what is experienced in the livestock, in the farm, in the agro-industry and where you can do these commercial exchanges that I was talking about and we are expecting about 8 million visitors in 23 days and there will be an economic outflow of a lot of money, a billion pesos.
Finally, from an infrastructural point of view, not having access to the sea and therefore ports, what are the airports, railway or road networks for connecting to other states and other main cities?
We have two railway trains that allow us to provide all the trade, products and goods, and we also have two ways to go out, move to places that allow the goods to pass by sea and this means that there is not only the port of Manzanillo but we can also reach other ports. It is important that we have an international airport, which is a cargo airport that brings the goods by air and we have also become a railway and highway infrastructural logistics point. We are growing a lot, we grew by 6.2% last year, one of the states that grew the most, think that India, which was the country that grew the most in the world, grew by 6%, Aguascalientes by 6.2%, this is to make it clear that we are a state that continues to constantly grow and move and that is why we are here in Italy today, to continue to bring investments, jobs, generate commercial wealth that we need for Aguascalientes to grow.
Paolo Romano
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