Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announcing the establishment of special economic zones

Locus Economica provided technical assistance to the Government of Mexico in 2015 on the development of a special economic zones program. President Nieto announced the program to combat serious poverty and crime in the southern states of Chiapas, Guerrero, and Oaxaca. The zones are intended to improve conditions in these states by attracting new investment, creating jobs, developing supply chains with the local economy, and improving infrastructure.

Locus Economica joined the effort after the Mexican government requested World Bank technical assistance for the development of the program. The World Bank turned to Locus Economica founder Jean-Paul Gauthier to give workshop presentations in February 2015 on global experience with SEZs to the Mexican officials tasked with developing the zones program. Following these presentations, the Mexican government and the World Bank requested that Locus Economica review the draft Mexican SEZ Law against international good practices and for compliance with NAFTA. Locus Economica conducted a thorough review of the law and submitted comments and recommendations for improvement.

Later, in 2016 Locus joined IDOM to provide assistance on the formation of the SEZ Authority and on business incentives.