OWIT - South Florida to Host Ambassador Juan Miguel Gutierrez-Tinoco
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On September 9, 2009, the South Florida chapter of the Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT) will host Ambassador Juan Miguel Gutierrez Tinoco, the Consul General of Mexico. This month, OWIT-South Florida’s focus is Mexico at our monthly luncheon. The luncheon will take place at the Sofitel Hotel from 11:30 to 1:00 p.m. I hope you make it! Register here.
Did you know Mexico is the third largest trading partner of the United States? Mexico’s top import into South Florida is gold, up by 184.17% according to World City’s 2009 Miami Trade Numbers.
Save the Date!
Please save November 12, 2009, for our annual International Business Women of the Year (IBWOY) awards luncheon, honoring exemplary women in the South Florida international trade community. While the details are being fine tuned, I can say that we are doing something different this year. Typically, we raise money for a scholarship for a university student. However, this year, so many of us have been touched by cancer. We recently lost Bunny Schreiber, a beacon in the South Florida trade community, and one of our own Board members is currently fighting cancer. Therefore, this year we would like to raise money for breast cancer awareness and will donate proceeds of our silent auction to the Susan G. Komen foundation. If you have any items you'd like to include in the auction, or are interested in sponsorship, please contact me.
I have to say, I personally have truly enjoyed being a Board member of OWIT for the past four years, and hope you too will get involved! We'd love your feedback for future events, and would appreciate new faces on our committees!
Did you hear that Mexico replaced all 700 Customs Inspectors? It did so because the Mexican Customs officers were considered corrupt, allowing undeclared merchandise (including drugs and weapons) to cross into and out of Mexico. The replacement officers are allegedly specially trained to collect the tax revenues that the Mexican Government depends upon, and prevent undeclared merchandise from entering the country (i.e. smuggling). Mexico depends upon collection of revenues by the Mexican Customs authorities much more than we do in the United States with the customs duties and fees collected by our U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers. Most importantly, the new Mexican Customs officials are supposed to be specially selected and trained so they will not be susceptible to the same enticements that corrupted the former 700 Mexican Customs officials. Mexican Government officials say not to worry about the new Mexican Customs officials as over 70% of the new Mexican Customs officials are colleged educated, as opposed to just 10% for those who were fired.