Beyond the general perceptions than San Diegans and Tijuanenses may have of each other, there is a common sense by most of those surveyed that the border brings positive benefits to their respective communities. While this is so, the surveys also reveal that San Diegans and Tijuanenses tend to focus more on the challenges of their neighboring sister cities as opposed to focusing on their shared collective assets.

Some of the shared assets of the San Diego-Tijuana region include:

• A thriving binational business community with a growing number of cross-border partnerships, joint ventures and alliances forming on both sides of the border.

• Potential R&D linkages to manufacturing with San Diego's thriving wireless telecommunications, software, and bio sciences sectors and Tijuana's large number of world class manufacturing facilities.

• A growing binational work force that is bicultural and bilingual with many of Tijuana’s professional workers being U.S. trained. Expanded NAFTA professional visa provisions, as proposed by the current Administration, could further strengthen our regional advantage.

• Specialized binational professional services in international trade due to the presence of the border and the large number of multinational corporations operating maquiladoras in Tijuana.

• Specialized binational medical services. Because of Tijuana’s proximity to San Diego (and the high demand for affordable health care from Southern Californians) the city has some the best medical clinics in Mexico outside of Mexico City.

• Cross border fiber optic network with capabilities to provide expanded telemedicine and distance learning services both North-South and South-North.

• Cross-Border rail infrastructure. The region has an expanded San Diego-Imperial Valley cargo rail line via Tecate. The new rail line will connect San Diego and Tijuana to eastbound ports.

• Potential cross-border airport connection. With the proposed cross-border passenger crossing at Otay Mesa, the Tijuana International Airport could provide the region with more easy access to San Diego residents for travel throughout Mexico.

• Expanded cross-border natural gas linkages that will soon provide a cleaner, more cost effective energy supply to both San Diego and Baja California.

• A vibrant binational arts culture with a diverse community of artists, musicians and writers that are coming from around the world to make this region their home.

• A talented and able migrant workforce. The passion and ambition of our migrant workforce is the greatest untapped and neglected assets in the region.

• A shared culture and history with sites of great historical significance on both sides of the border.

• A native indigenous community with cultures, traditions and language that are unique but are under threat and dying out. Presently, there are less than 1,500 indigenous native people left in Baja California.

• A superb binational educational infrastructure. When looking at the region’s educational resources, San Diegans tend to focus solely on its own educational assets and neglect the growing number of excellent educational institutions that are now located in the state of Baja California and collaborating closely with institutions in San Diego. These include: Colegio de la Frontera Norte, among the most highly regarded think tanks for immigration studies in Mexico which has strong ties with UCSD, USD and SDSU; Universidad Iberoamericana with its border pedagogy program that is being developed in partnership with California State University, San Marcos; Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE), a leading center for marine biology, physical oceanography, geophysics, marine pharmacology, and aqua culture which works closely with Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO); and the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California (UABC) Tijuana campus that has recently developed a joint program with San Diego State University focusing on transborder public administration and governance.

• Potential cross-border CONNECT opportunities. In 1994 UCSD Connect and San Diego Dialogue proposed binational technology collaboration through regional research institutions that could lead to technological innovation in the private sector. With the Mexico peso crisis, that vision was shelved but should be re-visited in light of San Diego's high housing costs and the unique research in marine pharmacology already taking place at CICESE (See above). A potential La Jolla-Ensenada bio tech connection? It is worth further exploring.

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