Central Alberta employers are in need of workers; Querétaro, Mexico, has workers in need of employers.

Relief could come from a meeting in Red Deer this week, when a two-person delegation from Querétaro spoke with employers, politicians and economic development officials from the region.

Ricardordo Alegre is the central Mexican city’s head of economic development, and Lorena Jiménez heads up its international affairs unit. They travelled to Alberta following discussions with Alberta Employment and Immigration about employment opportunities here.

The pair’s itinerary included stops in Red Deer and Olds on Wednesday.

The meeting in Red Deer wasn’t open to the media, but Central Alberta Economic Partnership chair Dale Barr said after that Querétaro wants to create opportunities for its workers to learn outside the country and bring new skills back. It’s hoping to work with Alberta employers to connect them with prospective workers.

“I think one of the comments that Lorena made that was particularly telling was when she said anybody who has travelled outside the country and experimented with a different culture and a different language and a different work is a greater asset to Mexico,” said Red Deer Mayor Morris Flewwelling, who was also at the meeting.

Flewwelling said he was surprised to learn that Querétaro has an employment rate similar to Central Alberta’s, but many workers there lack opportunities for advancement and to earn higher wages.

“They see us as an outlet for that advancement.” Jiménez said her municipality has information about prospective workers and will prescreen these on behalf of foreign companies.

“We’ll be doing the same as a recruitment company, but without the charge.”

She pointed out that Querétaro is already benefiting from its international ties, with a number of foreign companies and workers located there.

“We have 21 Canadian companies already settled in industrial parks in Querétaro,” she said, listing Bombardier Inc. as among these.

Barr said Alberta Employment, Immigration and Industry included CAEP in the Querétaro initiative due in large part to its work in developing and implementing a collaborative labour force strategy for this region.

“We kind of led all the economic development regions.” He added that the local meeting attracted a great deal of interest.

“We had good representation from the region and the delegates were certainly impressed with that