Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, is located 150 miles west of the capital, Guatemala City, in the most mountainous part of the country. Founded in 1524, Quetzaltenango has historically been the principal commercial center linking Mexico with Guatemala City. 

The partnership between Albuquerque and Quetzaltenango focused mainly on solid waste and wastewater as a preliminary step toward economic development. Quetzaltenango visited Albuquerque to receive an overview of solid waste collection systems and efforts to make them more productive and efficient. Albuquerque also provided information on financing and accountability and on structuring enterprise funds for solid waste operations. Albuquerque sent various teams to assess the needs of Quetzaltenango and worked with the partners to develop a strategic management system. 

In the summer of 1997, Albuquerque visited Quetzaltenango to assess the city’s needs with regard to economic development. The team found that while there was considerable potential for economic development in Quetzaltenango, the building blocks for such development—sound municipal management and finance and efficient service delivery—were lacking. In fact, the Albuquerque team identified critical problems with Quetzaltenango’s disposal of wastewater and solid waste, which posed a serious health risk to its citizens and threatened the viability of businesses. The city could not attract and retain businesses unless it provided the basic services needed to operate. 

The partners agreed to focus the partnership on improving the management of the city’s infrastructure as a means to achieve Quetzaltenango’s economic development goals. Over the course of several exchanges, Quetzaltenango and Albuquerque made progress toward achieving these partnership goals. Officials from Albuquerque made several recommendations that Quetzaltenango acted on, including ensuring a reliable water supply by establishing a program to repair and maintain potable water tanks throughout the city. The city also began constructing a sanitary landfill and a modern recycling facility and developed a long-term plan for integrated solid waste management, for which the city of Albuquerque made recommendations.