There is no other public-private entity with the capacity to develop collaborative solutions for the combined region of Sonora and Arizona.

By providing a forum for sustained and civil conversation, relevant and critical issues get a thorough review from multiple perspectives. Nothing is pushed or rushed. In fact, implementation of ideas proposed through AMC committees has led to local and national solutions that could not have been solved by any other means. The solutions are pragmatic and real.

AMC focuses on economic development, quality of life and the dynamics of an international border. AMC understands that regional vitality leads to higher living standards, a robust economy, safe and healthy environments, and sufficient infrastructure to accommodate the people of the region.

AMC was born from a visionary spark in the cold war climate of 1959. Suspicion was closing trade between nations. During a first-of-its-kind university-sponsored conference aimed at expanding Arizona and Sonora cultural and trade relations, Arizona Governor Paul J. Fannin envisioned a great possibility for collaboration that could lead to mutual prosperity.

Fannin invited the receptive and equally inspired Sonora Governor Alvaro Obregon Tapia to join him in the creation of a permanent forum
for cooperation. The Arizona-Mexico West Coast Trade Commission and its Mexican counterpart, Comision Sonora-Arizona, came to be.