The main task of the governor of the central Mexican state of Tlaxcala, Mariano González Zarur, is to “get Tlaxcala back onto the national and international map.” In fact, he thinks that process began when Mexico began to recover from a 2008-2009 economic crisis.
By chance, this recovery coincides with Mr González’ victory in the election for governor in July 2010, and his taking office in February 2011 to begin his 2011-2016 term in office.
One of the closest ties Mr González and Tlaxcala state have nurtured in the past 18 months has been with Germany, and with the German Ambassador in Mexico City, Dr Edmund Duckwitz.
The German diplomat agrees that Tlaxcala is ideally situated geographically. As Mr González says, “Its extraordinary geographical features include the crossroads coming from the south-southeast to go to the capital’s Federal District and then on to the Pacific coast.”
He adds, “We also have the two railroad tracks that go to the biggest Mexican port of Veracruz, and we are building a road to another important port on the Gulf of Mexico, which is the closest to Mexico DF, called Tuxpan in the state of Veracruz.”
Tlaxcala Secretary of Economic Development, Adriana Moreno, insists: “We want to be seen as a state focused on manufacturing and tourism, these two pillars, and the most important area in the manufacture industry is the automobile one.”
Mr González points out, “We are very close to a major vehicle assembly plant belonging to Germany’s Volkswagen. In this state, more than 30 companies are dedicated to supplying the automotive industry, and among them are several German suppliers.”
After 18 months in office, Mr González says his administration is returning Tlaxcala’s former glory to the state. “Tlaxcala in the past was an outstanding institution in the country when production became industrialized,” he explains.
Ambassador Duckwitz has said that for reasons of safety and quality of life, Tlaxcala is one of the favourite destinations for German businesses. Mr González reveals that he took Dr Duckwitz on a tour of Tlaxcala, and invited him to the Automotive Industry Forum in September 2011, where Germany was the guest country.
The two discussed the celebration in Cologne in June 2012 of a Mexico-Germany bilateral business summit. This was the second such summit, following the first in Querétero, Mexico. The third will be in León, Mexico, the fourth in a German city, and “the fifth hopefully here in Tlaxcala,” as Mr González says.
“In this way German businessmen will see how our state is,” he adds. “It is the smallest state in Mexico, but not the least populated. It is also very important that we are one of the five safest states in Mexico, as security is important for foreign and domestic investors.”
Tlaxcala is also developing a strong tourist industry. “We have features other entities don’t have,” says Mr González. “There are pre-Hispanic areas. We have Spanish colonial temples with Moorish handicrafts on roofs, pipe organs, and natural beauties such as one of the only firefly sanctuaries in the world.”
Mr González says Tlaxcala is one of two or three Mexican states that have a “dual system” with Germany, whereby high school students at technical level institutes can go to Germany and even work there. “Thanks to this dual system, people are preparing for the job market,” he concludes.
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