Latin Business Assn. Links With Jalisco Trade Institute

The Los Angeles-based Latin Business Assn. has joined forces with Mexican counterparts in the state of Jalisco to bolster trade ties among small and medium-sized enterprises here and there.

The organization’s institute, which offers training and assistance to Latino-owned businesses looking to polish technological, exporting, marketing and other skills, has signed an agreement of cooperation with Jalisco’s JALTRADE Institute. That public-private effort pursues a similar goal of helping Mexican entrepreneurs participate in global trade.

The agreement was signed when Jalisco Gov. Alberto Cardenas Jimenez visited Los Angeles last week. Already, 50 businesses here have been matched with potential trade partners in Guadalajara, Jalisco’s capital, said LBA Chairwoman Ruth Lopez Williams.

“This was a first . . . this partnership between the institutes,” she said. “Our objectives are so well-aligned in terms of empowering small to mid-size business.”

In addition, the LBA has elected a board of directors to run a sister organization in Guadalajara. LBA Vice Chairman Ruben Arenas serves as president of the Guadalajara board to give businesses there a voice with the organization here.