Our goal is to deliver high-quality facilities and consistent customer service globally. Pictured (l-r) are Managing Directors Larry Harmsen and Chuck Sullivan, North America; Gary Anderson, Europe President; and Ming Mei, China President.
Geographic diversification helps us better serve customers' needs and insulates us from the effects of any single country's economy. Compared with just two years ago, we operate in more key global markets. We established a presence in Canada, Romania, Slovakia and South Korea. Additionally, we enhanced our strong market position in Mexico and entered three additional markets in Japan. In 2006, we began development of eight new projects and secured land reservation agreements for 16 new distribution parks in China. Clearly, we have tremendous opportunities to expand our presence in the countries in which we operate - in fact, those we are now in represent over 76 percent of world Gross Domestic Product. Due to our origins, the majority of our assets remain in North America, but in 2006, 72 percent of our new development occurred in our international markets.

In 2006, we doubled our presence in Mexico, adding dedicated management and expanding into Mexico City and Guadalajara. Pictured are Manuel Gonzalez Rodriguez, VP and General Manager of Celestica (l), and Silvano Solis, SVP and Regional Director, ProLogis Mexico.
Manufacturing has migrated from parts of the world where labor is relatively expensive to places where it is less expensive. In China, Mexico and Eastern Europe, this shift has created demand for new distribution space to support both export activity and distribution of goods to the growing population of middle-class consumers. As consumer demand increases in these developing markets, our manufacturing and retail customers, such as Amazon, Black & Decker and L'Oreal, have been restructuring their distribution networks to respond to the surge in domestic consumption. In Mexico, for example, our initial focus was on border markets that provide light manufacturing and distribution of exports. However, over the past several years, structural improvements, banking reform and currency stabilization have driven economic growth and led to growing demand for new distribution space in key metropolitan areas.