MEXICO CITY (dpa-AFX) - Mexico wants to push ahead with the construction of a trade route between the Pacific and the Atlantic. The Economy Ministry announced Monday (local time) the first tenders for industrial parks along a planned 300-kilometer rail route. With the envisioned "Interoceanic Corridor" through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, leftist nationalist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants to offer world trade an alternative to the Panama Canal. The corridor is one of his government's major projects and is intended to contribute to the development of the poor south of the North American country.

At a meeting with potential investors and chambers of commerce, Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro announced the first six of ten tenders for the industrial parks. The latter are to be built in the states of Veracruz and Oaxaca. The transisthmic corridor will connect the Pacific port of Salina Cruz with Coatzalcoalcos on the Gulf of Mexico at Mexico's narrowest point.

Driven by the North America Free Trade Agreement, numerous companies have settled in Mexico since the mid-1990s in order to be able to export duty-free from there, especially to the USA. More than 2000 companies with German capital, including the car manufacturers Volkswagen and BMW, have plants in Mexico.

Most industrial parks are currently located in the north and center of Mexico. The government's plan to make the south attractive for industry as well has met with resistance from indigenous peoples and farmers who fear negative impacts on their communities./aso/DP/zb