"We promote ourselves as good neighbors but what we must accomplish is a true partnership," Gov. Napolitano told participants of a binational gathering of the Arizona-Mexico Commission and its Mexican sister organization, the SonoraArizona Commission.

"This will include taking the right risks, like investing in the Canamex Corridor and the Port of Guaymas."

Napolitano and Sonora Gov. Eduardo Bours delivered closing remarks Saturday at the session, which began Thursday.

Both stressed the need for each state to get to work implementing recommendations that came out of the committee meetings. Recommendations range from improving the Nogales port of entry to creating small business development centers in Sonora.

"Gov. Bours and I believe in results," Napolitano said during a press conference following her speech. Both governors pledged to continue working on these issues prior to the next plenary meeting.

The recommendations came from 11 committees working on everything from art and culture to tourism, health services, education, border security and economic development.

"The joint projects we've prioritized are large and significant and will take our best efforts," Gov. Napolitano said.

Both governors rejected the suggestion that the commissions' work has been slow to become meaningful policy.

"It's a history of success for the commissions," Bours said in Spanish. "But we don't want to wait for the next meeting to get to work."

The meetings are part of the annual gatherings, with each state hosting a visit. In June, the groups met in Tucson.

Napolitano arrived here Friday afternoon. She and Bours met privately with business leaders from Sonora before attending a dinner at the Governor's Palace.

A recurring topic during the meetings was the competitive challenges Sonora and Arizona manufacturers face from China.

"Smart businesses do not look at labor costs alone anymore," Napolitano said. "They do look at market access, transportation, telecommunications infrastructure and the education and skill level of the workforce, the development of capital and the regulatory market."

"We need to understand how these factors interconnect to create an attractive economic environment for our entire region."

Both governors said the Canamex Corridor a transportation road network from Guadalajara in the Mexican state of Jalisco through Arizona and four other states to Edmonton, Canada will be the key regional development effort.

The meeting's highlights included a presentation from a Ford Motor Co. official who reviewed the company's decision to invest more than US1 billion in a plant expansion in Hermosillo.

The auto plant expects to churn out more than 300,000 cars a year starting in 2005.

The U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce of Arizona also signed a strategic alliance with an association of Mexican women business owners in Sonora.