Leaders to discuss reducing border waits

By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times

Article Launched: 11/29/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

Pedro Escobedo guided his detection dog around a truck at the inspection area in Juárez last month before the truck crossed into the United States. A two-day international conference on security and trade starts today in Juárez. (Victor Calzada / El Paso Times)

The balance between free trade and border security has been a puzzle for the American government to solve, but Mexican stakeholders say they want to help.

Mexican trade leaders from several border states are to meet today and Friday in Juárez for a conference on the subject.

"This should be a priority. Look at the European Union, the first thing they did was ease commerce," said Oscar Kuri, general director of the Coalición Empresarial Pre Libre Comercio, one of the sponsors of the conference.

Kuri said he expected to 500 people at the event, including visitors from the Mexican states of Baja California, Coahuila and Sonora and from Texas, California and New Mexico. The conference, Congreso Internacional de Seguridad y Comercio, takes place at the Centro Cultural Paso del Norte in the ProNaF zone.