FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

August 6, 2002
PO-3334

Remarks by Rosario Marin
Treasurer of the United States
August 6, 2002
Nacional Financiera, Mexico City

Good afternoon.

Thank you, Señor Laborin, for hosting this important event. Thank you, Governor Monreal, Governor Morales, and Governor Nuñez for being with us today. Thank you all for coming.

On September 6, 2001, President Bush and President Fox launched the Partnership for Prosperity to promote growth in the parts of Mexico where growth has lagged and fueled migration. The two Presidents instructed us to come up with an action plan of concrete proposals that would deepen the economic ties between our two countries in a way that spreads prosperity to more and more of our people. They wanted real solutions for real people.

Today, we celebrate real, common-sense solutions for real people.

Señor Laborin, NAFIN, and the state governors have been hard at work trying to make sure that the hard earned wages of Mexicans in the United States find their way to productive uses in Mexico. What could be better, than using the money to start small business or to build a house.

For example, everyone knows that Mexico needs more houses. And, as more young Mexicans start families of their own, still more new families will need houses.

But houses costs money. Where is the money to come from?

President Bush says that most money for development does not come from official aid. It comes from savings, investment, and trade.

So where is the money for new houses to come from? We must look to savings, investment, and trade.

Indeed, that’s where the money is. According to the Inter-American Development Bank, last year Mexicans in the United States sent $9.3 billion dollars back to friends and family in Mexico. $9.3 billion dollars. I don’t know about you, but to me that is a lot of money.

Today, we are celebrating a new, easy way for Mexicans in the United States to take some of that money and use it to pay for a house in Mexico.

I am very excited about this.

Now, no one pretends that this will meet all of Mexico’s need for new houses. But it is a step in the right direction. After all, you build a thousand houses the same way you build a single house – brick by brick. Every brick counts.

Also, I am very excited with the Tres por Uno initiative, by which every remittance dollar used for a productive project in Mexico, is matched by both, the Mexican Federal Government and the state governments, multiplying by three community investment. Definitely, this is a great way to add up efforts.

So, today we celebrate exactly the sort of common sense solution that President Bush and President Fox asked us to find when they launched the Partnership for Prosperity. We still have much work to do, but I am very pleased to be here to celebrate this first step.

Thank you.