EL PASO – Tomorrow, September 6, 2007 at 5:00 p.m., Senator Eliot Shapleigh will highlight the results of the XV Border Legislative Conference (BLC) at a conference hosted by the Colegio de Chihuahua in Juárez, México.  The XV BLC was held March 30, 2007 in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico.

Senator Shapleigh currently serves as the BLC Vice Chair.  The title of the conference is: One binational agenda.  Results of the XV Border Legislative Conference.

The BLC is a binational program that brings together legislators from the ten U.S. and Mexico border states to address challenges and economic opportunities common to both countries. The BLC serves as a primary mechanism for sustained dialogue and collaboration among U.S. and Mexican state officials.

At the fifteenth legislative conference, officials discussed immigration, drug addiction and intervention, border trade, border infrastructure, and human trafficking.  In the area of trade, as chair of the BLC Economic Development Committee, Senator Shapleigh has worked to develop and implement the New Border Trade Proposal.  The proposal recommends the establishment of fast, safe, intelligent border bridges to speed movement of people and product.

The project entails the equipping of commercial vehicles and manufacturing facilities with Intelligent Software Agents and Information Technology Systems and provides a renewed framework to enhance supply chain visibility by linking manufacturing and custom operations to enhance security, inoperability, and expedited clearance of commercial shipments at the border.

In December 2005, the members of the BLC unanimously adopted the New Border Trade Proposal in El Paso.  Collaboration, strategic planning, and commitment among federal, state, and local governments in the U.S. and Mexico, as well as the private sector and border communities, is essential to develop a border system that is safe, fast and smart for the 21st Century.

Recent figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce show that Texas leads all states in cross-border commerce with $108.6 billion in goods from Mexico, which constitutes 68% of its total imported goods.   The "Twin Plant" or maquiladora industry contributes $105 billion of that total.  

"As policy-makers in Washington, D.C. define our region, El Paso-Juárez must push for secure, fast, smart movement of people and products to grow good jobs," said Senator Shapleigh. 

What:  Una agenda binacional. Resultados de la Decimoquinta Conferencia Legislativa Fronteriza.

One binational agenda.  Results of the XV Border Legislative Conference.

Where: El Colegio de Chihuahua, en calle Carlos Villarreal 3048-201, de la colonia Margaritas

Juárez, Chihuahua, México

When:  September 6, 2007 at 5:00 p.m.