Chris Roybal, senior economic adviser to Huntsman, said Miguel Rovira, new director of international business in the Western Hemisphere, will start working with Salt Lake-based Mexican Consul Salvador Jimenez Munoz on Huntsman's Utah-Mexico Alliance for Prosperity.

The alliance will encourage education and culture exchange between the two nations - as well as trade, Roybal said.

"Our focus will be to take that Mexico-Utah partnership model then extend it to Canada, then China, then India," Roybal said.

The governor said Thursday that he is close to hiring a second international trade director for Asia. He expects both trade representatives to focus on promoting Utah exports, match-making between international companies and the state, and sharing databases.

Huntsman says the state will focus economic development efforts on China and Mexico in particular.

Rovira, a former attorney in the U.S. Transportation Department, is president of the telecommunications firm Telesol in Salt Lake City. He also has served as president of the Virginia-based Hercules Satellite Communications.

In 2004, Rovira was elected vice-chairman of the Utah Hispanic Republican Assembly and is the president of the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Rovira will replace Layne Palmer, a former Tremonton auto parts store manager and father of Huntsman's executive assistant. Palmer was ousted after a Salt Lake Tribune news story questioned his qualifications to be state's director of international diplomacy and trade. Soon after, the governor instituted an anti-nepotism policy. Palmer now works for Huntsman's privately funded advisory group, Utah Policy Partnership.

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Tribune reporter Rebecca Walsh contributed to this story.