SANTA TERESA, N.M. (AP) — The state is announcing the expansion of the foreign trade zone at Santa Teresa, adjacent to the port of entry with Mexico.
The foreign trade zone gives manufacturers and suppliers in Dona Ana County a chance to locate on the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the port of entry and near the Union Pacific Railroad's planned $150 million fueling and transportation facility linking Santa Teresa to Interstate 10 and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Such zones are the U.S. version of what are known internationally as free-trade zones.
The expanded Santa Teresa zone includes about 1,200 acres along the New Mexico-Mexico border, with about 2.3 million square feet of manufacturing and distribution facilities.
The expansion allows the creation of a Santa Teresa-San Jeronimo Binational Campus which can take advantage of the New Mexico-Mexico maquiladora, or twin-plant, industry with facilities on the Mexican side of the border within 60 feet of companion facilities in New Mexico, said Juan Massey, director of the Office of Mexican Affairs in the state Economic Development Department.
The campus will improve the area's ability to become more competitive against the Pacific Rim, state officials said.
Manufacturing companies will be able to set up operations close to each other on both sides of the border. On the Mexican side, manufacturers will be able to establish their labor-intensive operations, then finished products will be transferred duty free to distribution operations within the foreign trade zone at Santa Teresa.
State officials said such a business environment could attract automated integrated manufacturing, technology research and development companies, software developers, medical equipment manufacturers and electronics manufacturing.
