ISME believes that private companies and professionals dedicated to the energy sector could bring solutions to the current economic crisis.
The International Society for Mexico Energy (ISME) is a non-profit association based in the US that provides an educational space for the industry, governments, and academia to promote Mexico’s energy sector participation. Noé Sáenz, Country Manager at Burns & McDonnell Mexico and founding president of ISME, highlights that the association’s mission is building bridges between Mexico and the energy world in the upstream, midstream, downstream, and electricity sectors.
After implementing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), ISME started a webinar series to understand better and strengthen the North American energy supply chain. “We believe that building bridges between Mexico and the energy sector is important, and we start with our most important partners: the US and Canada,” Noé said.
Based on that exercise, the organization published an executive paper: “Integrating a North American Energy Community.” This study points to crucial opportunity areas among the three partners, especially private companies and professionals dedicated to the energy sector.
“The economic recovery after COVID-19 will be very hard and long worldwide. That is not a secret. Now, as a North American region, if we can work together and collaborate among the three countries, not having to wait for governments to come together but to companies that are showing how to collaborate, that will be a great benefit for the region,” stated the founding president.
Bringing solutions to the table
ISME is not just focused on providing recommendations to governments or the energy industry. Noé Sáenz highlights their intention to help to strengthen the North American energy supply chain. He is convinced that the energy sector is critical to address business and economic development.
“We have recently launched an online community, the first energy community dedicated to connecting Mexico, the US, and Canada. People can find each other and promote economic or business development opportunities among the three countries. Nobody has done this before; we are happy to do this,” shares Sáenz.
This effort is essential since every country will have to deal with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this sense, Noé Sáenz points to establish a regional energy agenda to encourage cooperation for an economic recovery in North America.
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“We cannot wait for the governments to take the lead. They have different agendas for their own countries and reasons. Also, their terms have different limitations (four or six years), and things change again. So, the private sector has an opportunity to take the lead and help strengthen the North American energy supply chain,” he declares.
Finally, Noé Sáenz emphasizes that ISME is a permanent space with public and ongoing events, like webinars, round tables, and networking: “All year we invite companies, governments, and academic leaders to network and provide insights, share knowledge and opportunities. Our round tables and webinars are on an ongoing basis, and they are public. That is another benefit that we are excited about as an association. We are here to help out and bring opportunities, especially for the North American region.”
