MONTERREY, Mexico - The late Mary Kay Ash brought her pink Cadillac down to this industrial city two decades ago and set up a direct sales operation in a country where resellers had to go to a bank first to pay for their products, then pick them up at bus stations.

On Wednesday, Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert toured the Addison-based company's new distribution center, along a modern industrial corridor near Monterrey's international airport, and called it a model for economic cooperation between the "sister cities."

For example, 70 percent of Mary Kay's products sold in Mexico are made at a Dallas plant, and sales here are booming, creating a steady stream of jobs on both sides of the border.