Barrios Gómez: US, Mexico, the most integrated countries in the world

LAREDO, Texas - The co-founder of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations gave a keynote speech at the recent Pathways For Trade Symposium in Laredo.Agustín Barrios Gómez, a former federal congressman, spoke in depth about U.S.-Mexico relations. He said he believes the relationship with Mexico to be the most important the United States has. “I believe this and I can argue it ’til the cows come home,” he said.Barrios Gómez listed a number of statistics in support of this contention.“It turns out that Mexico and the United States are the two most integrated countries on the planet. I am talking order of magnitude. It is not even open for discussion. We have the most legally crossed border on the planet, 350,000 legal border crossings through 330 ports of entry,” Barrios Gómez said.Before Barrios Gómez spoke, there were brief remarks from IBC Bank President Dennis Nixon. IBC Bank co-sponsored the Pathways For Trade Symposium, along with Laredo Economic Development Corporation. Nixon’s remarks are at the start of the podcast. Barrios Gómez’s speech starts ten minutes into the podcast.Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.