60 years strong

The Arizona-Mexico Commission and its Sonoran counterpart the Comisión Sonora-Arizona, known as the Sonora-Arizona Commission in Arizona, both celebrate their 60th anniversary this year.

As both organizations reflect on their accomplishments over the last six decades, a key triumph is the close bond they have maintained throughout the years.

“[Gov. Ducey] always says- and this is absolutely spot on- that the AMC and CSA were here way before us and they’re going to outlive any administration,” Juan Ciscomani, senior advisor for regional and international affairs for Gov. Doug Ducey said.

In April, the Arizona Mexico Commission (AMC) visited the Sonora-Arizona Commission (CSA) in Hermosillo, Mexico to help kick-off their 60th anniversary celebration.

“We wanted to let the community know the relationship is on the sixtieth anniversary. And in that, related to what both governors and both states can achieve [with] the 16 committees,” Dr. Yamilett Martinez Briseño, CSA executive director said.

The AMC and CSA have 16 binational committees that address key issues in the region in an effort to improve quality of life. The committees include:

Agribusiness & Wildlife

Art & Culture

Community & Social Organizations

Economic Development

Education

Emergency Management

Energy

Environment & Water

Financial & Legal Services

Health Services

Mining

Real Estate

Security

Tourism

Transportation, Infrastructure & Ports

Sports (Ad-Hoc)

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and Sonora Governor Claudia Pavlovich task their state’s commission to make the AMC-CSA relationship a priority.

Although the AMC and the CSA already have a strong relationship, Gov. Ducey and Gov. Pavlovich’s collaboration has made it even stronger in recent years.

“It’s both personalities fitting, but also priorities for their states and also working styles,” Ciscomani said.

“They both are results-oriented and they’ve both instructed their teams to continue to make this a priority.”

“They have focused on the economic development… in terms of looking for what they can do to bring business to Sonora and Arizona, what they can do to improve the education level of the community, what they can do to bring more tourism- different things that they can bring to Arizona and Sonora together,” Martinez Briseño said.

Gov. Ducey and Gov. Pavlovich’s commitment to strengthening the relationship of the binational region impacts its economy.

“This relationship and the AMC playing a key role in that is really what’s going to continue to push the overall economy of the state forward with Mexico being our number one trading partner times four,” Ciscomani said. “It’s not an option for us- they’re our number one customer and we need to continue to invest in the relationship.”

In March 2019, exports from Arizona to Mexico reached $729 million and imports to Arizona from Mexico hit $946 million, according to Arizona-Mexico Economic Indicators.

“We have been looking for businesspeople from Arizona to come to Sonora to invest. We have been looking for business that can [connect] you to another industry, so they can be part of the chain of the commercialization,” Martinez Briseño said.

She also said tourism between Arizona and Sonora impacts the economy, and the safety corridor from Lukeville to Rocky Point strengthens it.

Martinez Briseño said the safety corridor should “assure to the people of Arizona that come to Rocky Point that they will be riding securely. We have collected data that fewer car accidents have happened in the last year because of the safety corridor.”