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Article Article August 17th, 2017
Cities

Moving Mexico City forward

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If Mexico City were a country it would be the sixth largest in Latin America, says @Chertorivski

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"The magic of public policy is in the implementation,” says Mexico City's @Chertorivski

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Working together will help tackle issues such as inequality and corruption, says @Chertorivski

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Mexico City is more than just a city. Sure, it's world famous and not only the capital of Mexico but its financial, political and cultural centre as well. Spend some time here, though, and you soon realise that you can read all about its size and importance, but nothing beats experiencing it for yourself. The pace. The energy. The melting pot of cultures and diversity, religions and people - the excitement and potential is palpable.

The man responsible for its continuing economic development is Salomón Chertorivski. If he's feeling the pressure of accelerating the city's economic progress, let alone having the hopes and dreams of so many Mexican citizens (21 million people) on his shoulders, he's not one for showing it.

Maybe this is down to his experience - he has already clocked up senior roles in both business and the public sector, including as national commissioner of social health and secretary of health. Or maybe he is simply too busy introducing new initiatives and implementing new programmes to worry about it. I think it's a combination of the two. Certainly, his passion for the job comes through loud and clear - as does his understanding that local needs require local solutions.

“Mexico City is unique within the Mexican economy,” he admits. “Previously, its economic direction had been set at federal level, but under the administration of the city's mayor, Miguel Ángel Mancera, we have sought to get a very clear picture of the economy. Remember that it is a very large economy - it represents 36.9% of Mexico's economy, and if it were a country it would be the sixth largest in Latin America.”

Playing for both teams

Mexico City is now considered one of Mexico's 32 states, and Chertorivski has been its economic development secretary since 2012. He paints a picture of a city that has long since shaken off its manufacturing roots and is now more reliant on new industries such as financial services and IT than the (polluting) smokestacks of its recent past. Today, it is home not only to large multinationals but also to small businesses aplenty - 430,000 by his government's count - and his task it to craft an economic policy that can balance the needs of them both.

“We have established a specific office which is responsible for providing step-by-step support for any investment - domestic or international - that comes into the city,” he explains. “And for our smaller businesses - the grocery stores, the hairdressers, and so on - we have created an online ‘virtual office' of economic information. We think this is one of the most important economic information tools of any city in the world and reflects the fact that ours is an open data city - we even passed legislation to this end. Now we know exactly how many businesses there are, how many people they employ, the average wages, as well as all the other socioeconomic and socio-demographic information we need for decision-making.”

In addition, Chertorivski and his colleagues have set up new training programmes for small businesses - 30 in total - and are deploying new technology to help them grow their operations. For example, every small business can now access an IT programme to house its administrative documents, as well as receive new financial support in the form of credits and microcredits.

It's not all good news, though. Chertorivski goes on to admit that his city is not immune to the challenges that impact other urban centres around the world. “We need to do more to ensure that businesses - both large and small - are aware of all the support systems that are available to them,” he admits. “But the main issue we face is mistrust. Confidence between government and small business was broken because, under previous administrations, the policymakers' approach was about asking for something from small businesses or making their life more difficult. And corruption is still an issue, but we are using digital technologies and other approaches to hopefully rebuild trust.”

Team up to build up

A key aspect of Chertorivski's approach has been to develop new partnerships with other cities in order to share experiences and insights: Pittsburgh, Santiago, Chicago and Madrid are just a few examples. There have been collaborations on specific issues, such as how residents and businesses can make the most of the city's open data tools - “the central issue is how you make this data truly used and understood, as only then will it be powerful” - as well as broader cooperation. Clearly, Chertorivski places much emphasis on seeking out common solutions to common problems.

“Today, much public policy is being created and established at city level, rather than at national government level,” he says. “With the sheer number of people already living in large cities - and with their populations still rising - best practices will be increasingly relevant. And so for several years now, we have established memorandums of economic understanding with cities such as Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle and Montreal in order to share understanding and best practices in a variety of different areas.”

Such collaborations can help policymakers become more effective, he believes. Of equal importance is the need to have the right analysis in place and then design the solution, before implementing incrementally. “Public policy is not an exact science,” he says, “and not everything one designs achieves the results that were anticipated in the planning phase. I think the most important thing is to evaluate and learn quickly along the way, so that the implementation is as effective as possible.”

He goes on to argue that effective implementation requires institutions to be fully involved and working productively. “The magic of public policy is specifically in the implementation,” he says. “But to implement properly it needs to involve institutions, so that they are part of what is being tried and achieved. But it is really a circle - evaluating the implementation and what went well and what didn't; redesigning, correcting and implementing. I think success comes from successive attempts, rarely from one single implementation that comes out perfectly.”

Eyes on the prize

Chertorivski, while constantly focusing on the present, is also casting his eyes forward towards the future direction of his country and city. His disposition, while tempered by the deep-rooted nature of some of the challenges on policymakers' plate, nonetheless remains optimistic about what lies ahead.

“A lot depends on whether we work together to tackle issues such as inequality and corruption,” he concludes. “Mexico is a country which generates wealth, but it has been redistributed in a very unequal way. We must also continue to make progress on corruption, as well as justice and security. But if we succeed in moving forward on these issues, our country will be very well placed. We have a young population - half are under 30 years old - and there will be huge potential to produce and generate wealth for all the people.”

Chertorivski, it is clear, can't wait to play his part in turning this vision into reality.

 

FURTHER READING

  • Mexico's quest for competitiveness. As director general of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, Juan E. Pardinas, is ideally placed to report on his country's to maximise its economic impact - he tells us how they've been getting on
  • Crossroads of a country: mapping Mexico's future. Rolando García Martínez of Mexico's National Conference of Governors tells us how bridging policy differences can maximise impact.
  • Mexico on the move. As deputy chief of staff to the president of Mexico, Raymundo Balboa certainly has his hands full. He tells about priorities and plans for the future
  • Building a better Mexico. Francisco Gonzalez Zozaya takes time out from serving as Mexico State's Infrastructure Minister, to tell us about his role and plans for the country's future
  • Mexico's moment: powering the country's economic future. Mexico's President Peña is on a mission to shake up his country's business, social and political structures. But no reforms matter more than those revolutionising its energy sector, explains Eduardo León

 

Written by:

Ofelia Saavedra Government Executive
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