Tijuana.- "Local governments of both Tijuana and San Diego, have to work more in the mutual promotion of their tourist attractions, to encourage commerce and the interaction between it's citizens" said Tijuana's mayor Carlos Bustamante Anchondo, during a meeting he held yesterday with Southern California officials.

During the welcoming ceremony, Bustamante Anchondo highlighted that the current administration has developed projects along with the city of San Diego, to make note that the effort taken by both cities complement and strengthen each other.

"These visits of recognition are the best way to continue working together, to achieve what we want for Tijuana and San Diego. There are many things we can share and we are grateful that all of you – San Diego city officials – have come to visit our city so you can recognize the potential of our border, and thus we can strengthen our bonds and collaboration" said mayor Bustamante.

During his presentation, mayor Carlos Bustamante reiterated that even though the promotion of tourism and businesses is underway, there are collateral issues that must be addressed, such as speeding up the border crossing on both sides of the border, so there can be more commercial interaction between the two cities.

The familiarization tour through out different tourist attractions in Tijuana, Playas de Rosarito and Ensenada was organized by the Department of Bi-national Affairs of the 20th town hall, with the purpose of introducing the many attractions that Baja has to offer to officials from California's Department of Transportation (Caltrans), The Asociation of San Diego Governments (Sandag), The State of California, and the San Diego Chapter.

Gary Gallegos, Executive director of Sandag, reiterated that it will continue with the policy of revising the more sensitive bi-national issues, take decisions that favor both sides of the border as well as promote Tijuana and San Diego as a single region with common goals.

"This is an opportunity that we have to truly get to know the potential our cities have in conjunction with each other; this is why we have to take advantage of this visit to detect projects that will benefit all of us, and thus encourage commerce, tourism and the exchange of cultural experiences" said the Executive director of Sandag.

Also at the event where the honorary director of Bi-national Affairs, Alfonso Bustamante Anchondo; President of the board of directors of Sandag, Jack Dale; The mayor of Lemon Grove, Mary Seassom; Assemblyman from the state of Arizona, Juan Carlos Escamilla; as well as Officials from Sandag, Caltrans, the Government of the city of California and the San Diego Chapter.

Editorial@sandiegored.com

Daniel.Aguilar@sandiegored.com