For Felipe Calderon, winning the presidential election was only just the beginning. Now the freshly-elected Mexican president is looking to fortify the existing relationships between his country and other nations by holding diplomatic meetings. Of particular interest to the Morelia, Michoacan-born head of state is the strengthening of Mexico-U.S. relations. For that reason, one of the first groups invited to visit with the president was from the state of Texas. Among the Houston heavy-hitters that hit the rode for Mexico, last month, as part of this delegation were CEOs and directors from local companies such as ExxonMobil, Continental Airlines, BP America Inc. and even the Houston Airport System. In 2005, air cargo trade between Houston and Mexico was valued at more than $367 million, making that country Houston’s second-largest air cargo trading partner. Exported products from Mexico made up the bulk of this trade with top-exports including electrical machinery, equipment and parts. The local delegation that visited with President Calderon last month was organized by the Greater Houston Partnership. The Partnership is the primary advocate of Houston’s business community and is dedicated to building regional economic prosperity.

Calderon and Vacar met in Mexico to talk business.

With more than 2,000 member organizations, the Greater Houston Partnership represents approximately one fourth of the region’s workforce.

For Richard Vacar, director of the Houston Airport System, visiting with President Calderon and the members of his cabinet was an unforgettable experience.

“Of most interest to me,“ says Vacar, “was the fact that they are going to be doing some privatization of their aviation industry and our development corporation has been doing some of that off shore work, and so I advised them that we had the capabilities and when the time comes we would consider engaging on those things.”

The Houston Airport System Development Corporation (HASDC) is a private Texas non-profit corporation, formed to extend the outreach of the Houston Airports System’s international marketing efforts. HASDC implements a commercial philosophy of airport management, managing airports as businesses seeking to maximize revenues and productivity by controlling costs and providing excellent customer service.

In essence, HASDC exports the experience and know-how of the Houston Airport System to other countries by training them on how to better manage their own airports. The group seeks to provide a strategic approach to airport management by building on an airport's strengths and taking advantage of ongoing changes in the local, regional economies, the airport and airline industries, and economic and aviation trends around the world.

“Air, land and sea connect Houston and Mexico in an irrevocable bond shared only by close neighbors,” said Jeff Moseley, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership. ”As Houston and Mexico embark on new journeys of cooperation, the business community of the Houston region must continue to enhance its ties with Mexico.”

Helping facilitate these bonds are Houston’s airports, Vacar noted. Currently, the airport system’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport offers flights to 30 different destinations in Mexico – the most number of cities served in that country by any airport in the United States.

“Continental has actually made a request for another city so that would make it 31,” Vacar explained. “We have more weekly flights to Mexico than any other airport in the country and so I thought that was important for the new president and his group to understand.”

In the future, the director is certain Houston will continue to dominate in this market; not only in the aviation industry, but also in many other social and economic aspects.

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