A new automotive plant in Aguascalientes will build both Daimler and Nissan vehicles, according to an announcement by the two companies today.

The 50-50 joint venture between Daimler AG and Nissan Motor Co. represents an investment of US $1.4 billion. The two firms will share planning, development and manufacturing of Mercedes and Nissan compact luxury cars.

The Wall Street Journal says the venture highlights a trend toward greater cooperation in the global automotive industry.

The new plant will be built near an existing Nissan factory and will produce 300,000 cars a year when it reaches full capacity in 2021. It will create 5,700 local jobs when fully operational.

Production is expected to begin in 2017, with Nissan Infiniti models. Mercedes-Benz vehicles will follow a year later.

Daimler has already engaged in a similar sharing of manufacturing and resources through a partnership with Renault, building the Renault Twingo and Mercedes Smart Car with shared design and parts.

[readon1 url="http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/nissan-mercedes-build-cars-new-plant-aguascalientes/"]Source:mexiconewsdaily.com[/readon1]

	Grupo Bimbo is one of six Mexican firms that have become world leaders in their sectors.

Six Mexican firms are world leaders in their sectors due to free trade, good administration, international expansion strategies and acquisitions, reports El Financiero.

Grupo Bimbo, Gruma, Mexichem, Coca-Cola Femsa, Grupo Televisa and José Cuervo, with combined sales totaling nearly US $42 billion last year, weren’t satisfied with being leaders within Mexico. So they went out and conquered the world, the newspaper reports.

The North American Free Trade agreement is credited with being the principal reason for the companies’ success internationally. NAFTA propelled Mexican firms to globalize.

José Antonio Quesada of PricewaterhouseCoopers explained that the importance of NAFTA is reflected in the results at bread-maker Bimbo: 96% of its sales in 1994 were within Mexico. Last year, only 42% of its sales were in this country.

With its purchase of Sara Lee, Bimbo became the biggest bakery in the world and has a presence in 21 countries.

Gruma is a major producer of corn flour with annual production of 2.6 million tonnes and operates in 35 countries.

The others on the list:

• Mexichem is a leader in the manfacture of PVC pipe which it sells in 50 countries.
• Grupo Televisa is the largest Spanish-language media company in the world, having generated 93,000 hours of content distributed in 85 countries. Its penetration in Spanish-speaking homes is estimated between 60 and 85%.
• Coca-Cola Femsa is the biggest bottler of Coca-Cola products in terms of sales due to its expansion in Mexico, Latin America and Asia. Its 1995 sales were 355 million cases with operations only in Mexico and Argentina. Its sales tody are 3.2 billion cases in 12 markets.
• Jose Cuervo is the oldest business in Mexico and second oldest in Latin America. Founded in 1795, it is the largest tequila maker in the world with sales in more than 90 countries.

In spite of severing relations with its partner Diageo, an international beverage company, it has maintained its position as the world leader in tequila.

[readon1 url="http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/6-mexican-firms-went-conquered-world/"]Source:mexiconewsdaily.com[/readon1]

Blanca Treviño, CEO of Softtek.

If Mexico wants to meet its objectives in terms of technological innovation, it needs to work with more Mexican firms and talent, a strategy that would spark growth in the sector.

In an interview with CNN Expansion, one of the few women working in the technology industry in Mexico advised that the government needs to work more with startups and small and medium-sized businesses in order to encourage development of the local market.

This is a fundamental means of sparking entrepreneurship in the technology sector, said Blanca Treviño, CEO of information technology firm Softtek.

“This is a most favorable time to spark new enterprises; yes, there is a rhythm of growth, but we need more new businesses. Something that would facilitate this would be Mexico giving more opportunities for new businesses to provide their services.”

If all the government is going to do is offer broadband access, technology businesses won’t have the opportunity to become integrated into the market, she said during the technology exposition, Campus Party 2014 in Zapopan, Jalisco.

She cited the United States, China, Spain, India and others where the participation rate of national firms in government projects stands around 40%. In Mexico the figure is barely one per cent, according to the consultancy Gartner.

“This makes it very difficult for the sector,” Treviño continued. “This local consumption is fundamental for the growth of small and medium-sized businesses. I’m not saying don’t give the contracts to foreigners, but I would like to see a balance, this is key.”

One way of achieving that would be through the integration of local firms into government purchases for projects such as the National Digital Strategy (EDN). Treviño said three foreign firms appear in the contracts currently approved by the EDN, Google, Microsoft and Oracle, yet only one Mexican firm is among them, which is a distributor for an American firm.

Treviño was one of the presenters at the event in Zapopan. Based in Monterrey, Softtek is an international provider of IT services with offices in Latin America, United States, Europe and Asia.

She wrote late last year on Quartz that Latin America is becoming a hotbed for business innovation. “A growing middle class with disposable income coupled with the rise of the digital information economy and increased access to mobile broadband has created ripe conditions for innovation throughout the region.”

According to the Inter-American Development Bank, broadband internet access has tremendous potential to promote growth. The bank states that a 10% increase in broadband penetration in Latin American countries brought about an average increase of 3.19% in per-capita GDP, an 2.61% increase in productivity and generated 67,000 new jobs.

[readon1 url="http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/buy-tech-services-locally-encourage-growth-says-firms-chief/"]Source:mexiconewsdaily.com[/readon1]

	Rubén Morones found a way of combining silver salts with antibiotics to improve their efficiency.

A process that improves the effectiveness of antibiotics and a system for monitoring pregnancies in rural areas have won awards for two Mexicans.

The MIT Technology Review presented Innovators Under 35 prizes to Rubén Morones, 33, of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL) and Fernando Rojas Estrada, 32, of the Carlos Slim Health Institute, in the category social innovation.

Morones was recognized for developing a process that combines antiobiotics with silver salts to improve treatment against infection. Silver allows the antibiotics to penetrate bacteria cells more easily and treat the infection.

“Silver can be seen as the Trojan horse or vehicle that opens the door to antibiotics to enter the cell and cause further damage,” says Morones. “It’s as if we have had a ‘super’ antibiotic cocktail behind a first aid kit where the key is made of silver.”

The discovery is important because microbes have been developing a resistance to common medications.

Rojas received the award for AmaneceNET, a system that permits distance monitoring of women during pregnancy. It is an application that runs on an Android tablet with which workers in the field can enter medical information.

That information is analyzed and what results is an evaluation of the woman’s condition and any possible risk that might exist. On average, 960 women die in Mexico every year during pregnancy.

Rojas was featured in a story on MND on June 22.

There were 10 finalists in the Innovators Under 35 program, held this year for the third time. The other eight were:

• Alejandro Cantú — developed a seismic satellite warning system that can measure the intensity of earthquakes.
• Blanca Lorena Villareal — created a robotic nose that can detect and locate the source of a smell.
• Caleb Rascón — created a robotic system that can detect and locate sound sources.
• Daniel Jacobo — developed an alternative system of modification to convert vegetable waste into bioactive compounds.
• Guillermo Ulises Ruiz — designed a strategy for improving the delivery of therapeutic molecules for cardiac deficiency.
• Josué Gio — designed an application that allows travellers to book accommodation at the last minute.
• Juan Leonardo Martínez — created an app to read quickly and precisely analyses made by colori

[readon1 url="http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexicans-35-awarded-innovative-talent/"]Source:mexiconewsdaily.com[/readon1]

Mexico City, Jun 27 (EFE).- President Enrique Peña Nieto said Mexico plans to invest 415 billion pesos ($31.9 billion) in water infrastructure between 2014 and 2018 to guarantee all Mexicans have access to that vital resource.

Speaking at the conclusion of a meeting here of the World Water Council's Board of Governors, Peña Nieto said Mexico is aware of the water challenges at the global and national level.

"Today, 35 million Mexicans have limited water access," the president said, recalling that per-capita water availability in the country fell from 18,035 cubic meters (635,650 cubic feet) in 1950 to 3,982 cubic meters in 2013.

He noted that Mexico's geographical location makes it vulnerable to droughts and also prone to hurricanes and intense rainfall, which raise water levels but also cause serious damage to homes, basic infrastructure and crops.

Peña Nieto said water is a basic resource for human development and wellbeing and that its availability is essential for food production, hygiene and public health, as well as the viability of human settlements and companies' operations.

He stressed, however, that the era of easy and abundant water has come to an end in Mexico and across the globe.

The president added that those responsible around the world for water management and supply will face increasingly complex scenarios due to overuse and pollution, intensified by demographic growth and climate change.

Water management is a global issue that requires the commitment of the international community, according to Peña Nieto, who expressed confidence that the WWC's efforts will lead to mechanisms that guarantee water supplies for the entire planet.

The 36 members of the council's Board of Governors participated Wednesday and Thursday in a preparatory meeting for the 7th World Water Forum 2015, to be held in South Korea.

They discussed issues related to the human right to water and the relationship between that resource and food production, energy, health, nature, natural disasters, climate and urban development, among other aspects.

[readon1 url="http://www.laprensasa.com/309_america-in-english/2604060_mexico-to-invest-31-9-bn-in-water-infrastructure-through-2018.html"]Source:www.laprensasa.com/[/readon1]

Mexico's economy will continue to recover during the rest of this year, but the situation in international markets poses risks, the Financial System Stability Council, or CESF, said.

Foreign demand and the federal government's stimulus policies should help bolster the recovery in the wake of first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth that came in lower than expected, the CESF said in a statement.

Demand in developed countries has given a boost to Mexico's economy, but "signs of relative weakness persist," the CESF, whose members are the heads of Mexico's main economic organizations, said.

Monetary policy in the main developed economies is likely to experience "gradual" normalization, the CESF said.

Investors' outlook for monetary policy "has contributed to low volatility" in the financial markets and "encouraged capital flows to return to emerging economies," the council said, referring to the low interest policies adopted by many central banks around the world.

Mexico's GDP grew 1.8 percent in the first quarter, compared to the same period in 2013, a figure that was well below expectations.

The government has revised its economic growth forecast for this year downward from 3.9 percent to 2.7 percent.

Mexico's economy grew just 1.1 percent in 2013 due to a strong deceleration in the first half of the year.

[readon1 url="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2014/06/26/mexico-economy-is-in-recovery-mode-financial-council-says/"]Source:latino.foxnews.com[/readon1]

Buying a home overseas may seem like an unaffordable investment, but some places offer luxury at a bargain.
With the help of Point2Homes, we've put together a list of some pretty overseas properties that are available for less than $50,000, which is the median household income in the U.S.

These homes range from a cozy home in Ireland to a seaside apartment in Thailand.

1. Pick up a condo in the resort town of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, for $49,900.
This two-bedroom condo is located in Puerto Vallarta, a resort city on Mexico's Pacific Coast. The 713-square-foot home is located on the fourth floor of its building and has nice touches including a breakfast bar and a laundry room. It is close to shopping, restaurants, and more.

2. This apartment on the Gulf of Thailand is $47,746.
Not only is this home located in the exciting city of Pattaya, but it has incredible views of the Gulf of Thailand as well. The 398-square-foot condo comes partially furnished and has a balcony, as well as access to the building's communal gym, barbecue area, and jacuzzi.

3. A home in a quaint Irish village for $47,687.
This quaint three-bedroom home is located in Shinrone, an Irish village, and though it's in need of some repair, it certainly has charm. The home has a garden, central heating, and a large brick fireplace.

4. Stunning views in Andalusia, Spain, for $47,611.
For under $48,000, you could have this luxurious two-bedroom apartment in Almeria, Spain. This apartment has both sea and mountain views, a large terrace, access to communal tennis courts and a pool, and private underground parking and storage. Did we mention it's only 10 minutes from the coast?

5. Live in the Costa Rica forest for $45,500.
This ground-level condo is located in the tropical dry forest of Costa Rica and features both mountain and river views. The one bedroom condo is 658 square feet and has access to a community pool.

6. Buy near the beach in the Dominican Republic for $42,000.
This one-bedroom condo in the small town of Sosua is a great tropical getaway. It is within walking distance of downtown and the beach and also has a garden area and a large pool on site. The condo is furnished and has a balcony.

7. Purchase a pad in Cape Town for just $41,197.
At this two-bedroom flat in Cape Town, South Africa, you'll be living in the most popular international tourist destination in Africa. The flat, which is located 9 miles from the city center, is listed as a perfect starter home, with 592 square feet of space and 24-hour security.

8. Lead a tropical life in the Philippines for $38,200.
Mactan Island is a great place to live, with opportunities to go diving, snorkeling, and island hopping. This two-bedroom home on the island is larger than most on the list at 1,350 square feet. It is located within the Brookfield subdivision, which features a guardhouse, a park and playground, a tennis and basketball court, and more.

9. A home in the heart of Budapest for $28,000.
Budapest is a beautiful city full of history, and it also happens to be very affordable. This studio apartment is a steal at only $28,000. It has large windows that light up the small space and it's located very close to the subway.

[readon1 url="http://www.businessinsider.com/homes-for-less-than-50000-around-the-world-2014-6?op=1"]Source:www.businessinsider.com[/readon1]

Mexico’s historic energy reform has understandably whetted the appetites of oil companies worldwide. But, concerns are growing that Mexico’s tax terms might turn out a little too tough – potentially scaring off, rather than attracting, investors.

How so? Let’s recap: Mexico expects to offer a range of licences and profit – or production – sharing contracts to private investors in a tender next year, the terms of which may become known in late in 2014.

Full details of the tax terms will depend on the licences or contracts on offer, but the government has given some broad outlines, including that the total tax take could be as high as 75 per cent.

That looks around the international ballpark, so what’s the problem?

Potentially two things, at least for foreign majors, who have vented their concerns in private forums, to the government and to their lawyers.

One is the concept of so-called “ring-fencing”, which the World Bank sums up as:

A limitation on consolidation of income and deductions for tax purposes across different activities, or different projects, undertaken by the same taxpayer

The other is a time-limit on the ability to amortise losses. Companies would have 10 years to deduct such losses from investments, despite the fact that in some projects – think deep- or ultra-deep water exploration, which can easily take more than a decade to bear fruit – they may not be making a profit in 10 years and would thereafter lose the ability to deduct the investment.

Here is Comexi, a think-tank, in a new report:

The combination of ring-fencing with the limit on amortisation of fiscal losses could produce an effective taxation rate higher in this sector than in other industries.

It fears there could be “distortions that inhibit investment” – a grave prospect: Inhibiting investment would defeat the whole point of the reform.

It’s a serious concern. As Eduardo Barrón, international tax partner at Deloitte in Mexcio told beyondbrics, the rules “could substantially increase” the effective tax rate for companies not in profit after a decade – though he noted that companies would take that into account when submitting offers during the tender process.

As is normal in the industry, oil and gas players in Mexico can expect to have to pay a royalty and other charges, besides Mexico’s 30 per cent corporate tax rate.

Jorge Luis Preciado, head of the main opposition PAN party in the Senate (the PAN, remember, pushed the government to make the reform much broader and more investment-friendly than originally planned), did a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation recently, telling foreign correspondents:

The most conservative estimates are that for every barrel that costs $100, $50 is oil revenue [for the state], $18 in value-added-tax, $6 in income tax and a specific tax that the finance ministry is going to impose, so more or less the government is taking away $82 with $18 for the company who extracts it.

Mind you, as Roberto Mendoza, senior corporate tax manager at KPMG noted, the legislation does offer the sector an exemption from a normally mandatory 10-per cent profit sharing scheme known as PTU, a potentially welcome sweetener.

Indeed, the government has to tread a fine line between being attractive enough to companies and keeping the lion’s share of revenue that comes from a non-renewable resource that belongs to the state.

But Miguel Messmacher, income undersecretary, told beyondbrics, neither ring-fencing nor the deductions limit should scare away petrodollars.

Ring-fencing is something used in other countries to ensure that the state receives the oil rent – it’s not something we’re inventing for Mexico or something that has impeded private participation in the sector in other countries. What we’re trying to avoid is that contractors can take costs from other activities and try to reduce what they have to pay in tax linked to hydrocarbons …

The 10-year limit on deductions is not something that applies especially to the hydrocarbons sector but is a disposition of income tax applicable to all productive sectors in Mexico, including some that have projects which take a long time to mature (steel plants, dams, roads, airports, etc). We have never had problems in those sectors.

On the contrary, it can be a blessing, he believes:

In fact, the time limit has served as an incentive for investment projects to be conducted more rapidly because a company is seeking income as fast as possible to be able to take advantage of this cost deductibility.

Pedro van Meurs, who has advised some 90 governments on oil and gas fiscal terms in the last 40 years, including consulting for Mexico’s state oil company, Pemex, on service contracts, and working in China, Canada, Bolivia and Kuwait, is not so sure.

In a new study of the legislation, he says:

The proposed Hydrocarbon Revenue Law significantly reduces the benefits that Mexico could obtain from the Constitutional change, despite attractive features in terms of fiscal structure, royalty rates and tax depreciation rates included in the proposed law.

He is concerned that the regime is too complex and bureaucratic; leaves too much to be decided in the contracts “creating significant possibilities for conflicts and a chaotic administration”; leaves “significant loopholes for contractors to achieve unwarranted profits”; creates loopholes for contractors to make “unwarranted profits”; and:

Introduces an excessive system of ring-fencing and establishes disincentives which will reduce investor interest for no particular benefit to Mexico

Ouch.

Of course, tax is just one of several elements investors will have to weigh in assessing whether to rush to Mexico or not. Compared with many other countries where oil and gas is extracted, Mexico looks like paradise – a stable economy, scant prospect of a sudden shift in the legal framework, plus proximity to the US with all the synergies and logistical benefits that brings.

It remains to be seen whether Congress – where approval of the energy bills to implement the reform have become bogged down in political horse-trading – will make any changes.

Mexico has done its homework carefully and the government knows it cannot afford for its first tender to be a flop. Special pleading by rich oil majors, then, or a real potential impediment to investment?

[readon1 url="http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2014/06/25/mexicos-tax-regime-scaring-off-oil-company-investors/"]Source:blogs.ft.com[/readon1]

WASHINGTON, June 25 (UPI) --Mexico has requested five additional UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the United States for its counter-narcotics activities.
The proposed procurement of the Black Hawks, which has received approval from the U.S. State Department, was made public by the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency in its required notification to Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sales program contract.

Specific requested are five UH-60M Black Hawk Helicopters with designated unique equipment, 13 T700-GE-701D engines, a dozen embedded global positioning systems/inertial navigation systems, 10 M134 7.62mm machine guns, and Safire III forward-looking infrared radar Systems.

Communications equipment, air worthiness support, spare and repair parts and support equipment are also included in the package, which is worth an estimated $225 million.

"Mexico has been a strong partner in combating organized crime and drug trafficking organizations," the agency said. "The sale of these UH-60M helicopters to Mexico will significantly increase and strengthen its capability to provide in-country airlift support for its forces engaged in counter-drug operations."

In April, the agency reported that Mexico was seeking 18 Black Hawks -- plus support -- in a deal worth $680 million.

[readon1 url="http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2014/06/25/Mexico-seeks-more-UH-60-Black-Hawks-for-counter-narcotics-effort/1481403719466/"]Source:www.upi.com[/readon1]

This article is part of a regular series of thought leadership pieces from some of the more influential ETF strategists in the money management industry. Today’s article features Deborah Frame, vice president of investments at Toronto-based Cougar Global Investments.

Some companies are cutting back in China and heading to Mexico to manufacture an array of products, from plastic toys to high-end products like electronics and pharmaceuticals.

Companies like headset maker Plantronics; hula hoop designer Hoopnotica; toilet brush manufacturer Casabella; grills and outdoor furniture maker Meco Corp.; medical supply firm DJO Global; and industrial cabinet manufacturer Viasystems Group are all making the move across the Pacific Ocean to south of the U.S. border.

Moreover, a number of American companies are also expanding in Mexico—including well-known brands like Caterpillar, Chrysler, Stanley Black & Decker and Callaway Golf—adding billions of dollars in investment and helping to drive economic integration.

All this spells new opportunity for investors through the use of exchange-traded funds such as the iShares MSCI Mexico Capped Investable Market ETF (EWW | B-95). But before going too far down the path of how investors should respond to these changes, let’s look a bit more closely at what has happened.

Unlike China, Mexico continues to boast low labor costs and has a huge advantage in terms of proximity to the American market. That’s a shift, because for years Mexico suffered because China’s low wages made it the manufacturing hub of the world.

But recently, the rise in Chinese wage inflation has resulted in the gap disappearing. Mexican wages that were nearly double China’s 10 years ago are now nearly 20 percent lower than in China.

Economists say that the American economy benefits more from outsourcing manufacturing to Mexico than to China because neighbors tend to share more of the production.

Forty percent of Mexico’s exports to the United States consist of components made in the U.S., primarily for the automotive industry. That compares with only 4 percent for Chinese imports, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Notably, the Mexican auto industry is about to go on a $10 billion factory-building spending spree, establishing the nation’s rising economic challenge to rivals from the United States to China.

The trade relationship between the U.S. and Mexico was significantly strengthened through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), signed in 1994. And since then, Mexico has worked on building trade agreements globally and now holds agreements with four dozen countries that allow duty-free trade.

Mexico’s share of North American production has tripled to about 20 percent since 1994. Since the 2008 recession, there has been a further shift in North American production to Mexico from both Canada and the U.S. Canada’s share flattened at around 17 percent in the early days of NAFTA but had fallen to 14 percent by last year.

Mexico’s domestic market has rebounded from a long slump, as growth in Mexico’s gross domestic product (GDP) advanced a seasonally adjusted 0.28 percent in the first three months of 2014. Year-on-year, GDP grew 1.8 percent in the first quarter. And a sign of Mexico’s growing global role is that auto exports outside of North America will rise faster than those to the United States.

For the growing share that is being enjoyed by Mexico, low labor costs, proximity to Latin American markets and government incentives have each helped spur the shift. By 2020, Mexico will have the capacity to build one in every four vehicles in North America, up from one in six in 2012, according to HIS, a global information company.

ETFs To Play The Shift To Mexico

So let’s return to ETFs such as EWW, a fund with almost $3 billion in assets under management. It tracks the MSCI Mexico Investable Market Index, which consists of stocks traded primarily on Mexico’s Stock Exchange.

Launched in March 1996, the fund has trading volume of more than 5 million shares a day. The assets are invested in a basket of 59 holdings; and Carlos Slim’s America Movil occupies the top spot with an almost 13.6 percent asset allocation.

Performance in the past three months has been strong, with EWW up 12.5 percent, 2.1 percent of it in the past month. Since inception, it has posted annualized gains of almost 13 percent for a total return of 787 percent, or upward of nine times more than when it launched.

The index is a capitalization-weighted index that aims to capture 99 percent of the total value of Mexico’s stock market.

Among sectors, consumer staples have the heaviest allocation (22 percent), while financials and basic materials round out the top three. Thanks to its heavy exposure to consumer staples, the fund will benefit from growing consumer demand in the country.

Additional ETFs that we watch and that invest 100 percent of their funds in Mexico companies:

• ProShares UltraShort MSCI Mexico Capped IMI ETF (SMK)

1. This fund tracks the MSCI Mexico Investable Market Index, but seeks 2x leveraged return as well as an inverse performance to the underlying index
2. So, as the index rises or falls on a daily basis, SMK moves in the opposite direction and seeks twice the return. Crucially, because the fund is rebalanced daily, its price can deviate significantly from the index value in what is called “path dependency.”
3. To accomplish its investing goals, the fund uses derivatives such as swaps as well as some cash assets. Some of the holdings in the underlying index are Grupo Mexico, Grupo Elektra and America Movil.

• ProShares Ultra MSCI Mexico Capped IMI ETF (UMX)

1. UMX has all of the same characteristics as SMK, the only difference being that UMX is not an inverse ETF.
2. SMK and UMX movie in opposite directions, but both seek a 2x leveraged return on the MSCI Mexico Investable Market Index.
3. Not to be forgotten, UMX—like SMK—exhibits path dependency, wherein the ETF price and its index value can diverge significantly.

• Deutsche MSCI Mexico Hedged Equity ETF (DBMX)

1. DBMX tracks the same index as these other ETFs, but additionally hedges its exposure to Mexico’s peso.

All these ETFs, particularly EWW from iShares, and DBMX—its currency-hedged cousin from Deutsche Bank—are effective tools to access these positive changes in Mexico’s economy.

It’s a trend, as the above data suggest, that looks likely to have some staying power.

The leveraged plays are there to be explored as tactical tools, though at Cougar, we do not use any leveraged ETFs in our models.

At the time of publication, Cougar held a position in EWW on behalf of clients. Contact Deborah Frame at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Cougar, founded by Dr. James Breech, is a Toronto-based money management firm that uses only ETFs in its top-down global asset allocating strategies. Breech launched Cougar in 1993 around a downside risk management system he created. Contact Cougar Global at 800-387-3779 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Deborah Frame is vice president of Investments and chief compliance officer at Cougar Global Investments, a Toronto-based global tactical ETF portfolio strategist. She heads up the research team at Cougar Global, including macroeconomic, market environment and asset class correlation research used in the firm’s qualitative and quantitative asset allocation models that focus on downside risk optimization and the use of ETFs.

[readon1 url="http://www.etf.com/sections/etf-strategist-corner/22423-why-mexico-is-becoming-the-new-china.html?fullart=1&start=3"]Source:www.etf.com[/readon1]

QUÉBEC CITY, June 25, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - CRIQ has signed an agreement with the Mexican state of Jalisco's Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology and the Mexican Institute of Water Technology (IMTA) to implement biofiltration wastewater treatment technology in two locations: a pig farm and a producer of Mexico's world famous Tequila.

BIOTROPTM was developed jointly by CRIQ and IMTA and can be adapted to a wide variety of applications and settings—it is already in use in a Mexican hospital and secondary school. Adopting this promising technology in the agri-food sector is a Jalisco government priority as it will enable businesses to boost productivity while preserving the environment and lowering GHG emissions.

"We are very pleased that the state of Jalisco is joining the partnership we have maintained with the Mexican Institute of Water Technology since 2005," noted CRIQ President and CEO Denis Hardy. "CRIQ is extremely proud to see Quebec-designed technology contributing to economic growth in a region of Mexico known as an innovation leader."

About CRIQ
The mission of CRIQ (Centre de recherche industrielle du Québec) is to make Québec industry more competitive by supporting business innovation. CRIQ provides the information, expertise, and services businesses need to excel in both developing distinctive high value-added products that meet market needs and adopting new technology and know-how to enhance productivity, position themselves in the global economy, and become eco-efficiency leaders.

CRIQ's 220 employees work with sector-based and corporate organizations and foster partnerships to enhance the range of innovation-related services CRIQ offers business. For more information, visit www.criq.qc.ca.

About IMTA
Located in Jiutepec, Morelos, the Mexican Institute of Water Technology (IMTA) is a public institution with a dual research and teaching vocation and a mandate that includes water management issues and challenges. IMTA adopts novel R&D approaches to protect water resources and help achieve efficient and fair resource distribution and access for all users.

As the sole organization of its kind in Mexico, IMTA has unique facilities and know-how that give it a competitive advantage and add value to the products and services it provides its clients and water users. IMTA employs over 300 highly qualified experts in various water science disciplines.

About the state of Jalisco
Known as "Latin America's Silicon Valley," Jalisco is a state on Mexico's Pacific coast home to some 6.5 million people. Its main industries are manufacturing, IT, and electronics. Agri-food is another major industry, with Tequila production alone accounting for 200,000 direct and indirect jobs.

[readon1 url="http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2014804"]Source:www.digitaljournal.com[/readon1]

On June 19 and 20, the presidents of Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru met in Punta Mita, Mexico, for the Pacific Alliance’s ninth Summit. The Alliance, a pro-trade bloc made up of those four countries and 32 observers, promotes economic integration and joint growth of members with an emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region. Punta Mita also hosted the twelfth meeting of the Pacific Alliance Council of Ministers featuring the bloc’s ministers of foreign affairs and trade.

This is the first summit that Michelle Bachelet, Chile’s newly elected president, and Heraldo Muñoz, her minister of foreign affairs, attended. Alongside their counterparts, the two Chilean officials addressed a series of new steps the group is taking towards greater integration. And, as part of a new direction for the Alliance spurred on by Bachelet, Alliance members announced they would meet this year with representatives from Latin America’s other big trade bloc: Mercosur.

Ahead of the summit, Bachelet stated that while the Asia-Pacific region should remain a focus for the Alliance, her administration would promote changes. “Perhaps the main element of change is the intensification of ties with Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly with South America,” explained Muñoz. “Beyond legitimate differences, it is perfectly possible to achieve levels of convergence between Alliance countries and Mercosur, between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Not only is it possible: it is also necessary,” said Bachelet.

Addressing the apparent differences in position between the two blocs, Muñoz said: “Foreign policy will have no ideological bias. It will have a pragmatic bias.” To this end, a ministerial meeting between the two blocs was scheduled for late July in Cartagena, Colombia. The Chilean delegation also proposed to organize a seminar between the two blocs for academics, business groups, entrepreneurs, and senior officials in September. But any membership negotiations are “a long way off,” and other countries might not “necessarily want to join,” added Muñoz.

The Southern Common Market, or Mercosur, is made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The group stands in contrast to its Pacific neighbors for its more protectionist stance toward trade. Nonetheless, both Paraguay and Uruguay already hold Pacific Alliance observer status and expressed interest in closer relations.

Other initiatives on the table in Punta Mita included Mexico’s entry into the Latin American Integrated Market (MILA), the transnational exchange made up of the Bogota, Lima, and Santiago stock markets. Mexico’s bourse is by far the largest in the group, and its entry into MILA—scheduled for fourth quarter 2014—will raise MILA’s market capitalization to close to a trillion dollars, comparable to São Paulo’s Bovespa exchange. The merger will allow listed companies access to funding across all four markets, and will in turn allow investors much broader opportunities.

Additionally, the bloc’s foreign ministers signed an agreement for a working holiday scheme, allowing 18- to 30-year-old nationals from Alliance members to legally work on tourist visas in any of the three other countries for up to a year.

[readon1 url="http://www.as-coa.org/blogs/2014-santiago-blog-pacific-alliance-deepens-integration-announces-mercosur-meeting"]Source:www.as-coa.org[/readon1]