When it comes to economic development, some business and government leaders are calling this “Mexico’s Moment.” Opportunities are being touted during the Arizona-Mexico Commission Summit taking place in Scottsdale this week.

By 2025, Mexican leaders predict one of every six dollars in their country’s economy will be tied to tourism. That includes direct jobs like resort workers and indirect jobs like assembly plant workers who help build cars that move visitors.

Jesús Mario Chacón Carrillo would like to add more doctor and dentist jobs by growing medical tourism. He works for ProMexico, the government agency responsible for strengthening Mexico’s participation in the international economy. 

“We want you to go to Mexico to have treatment, medical treatment, and to take your family there and to have holidays," he said.

Chacon Carrillo says medical treatments in Mexico can be 36-to-89 percent cheaper than in the United States. 

Other Mexican leaders asked Arizona to join them as they tackle the energy sector. Mexico’s Undersecretary for Planning and Energy Transition, Leonardo Beltrán Rodríguez, said in addition to strong solar resources, Mexico has the fourth largest natural gas reserve in the world.

“That’s why Arizona, that’s why Sonora. That’s why the energy sector has to be the answer to integrate, to promote and to expand the collaboration with Mexico," he said.

Recently, Mexico’s government ended a more than 70-year-old ban on foreign investment in the energy sector and began auctioning rights to private companies to explore oil.