Throughout our company's 97-year history, we have recognized that using the earth's resources as efficiently as possible makes good business sense, a practice that provides economic advantages today and helps assure Sustainable Development for tomorrow. Equally important, by treating our natural resources and communities with respect, our business will grow in the most socially responsible manner.

In a global cement industry that directly supports 850,000 workers and their families, and operates in more than 150 countries, we must work with our peers to carry out a vision of Sustainable Development for our industry. Thus CEMEX, along with nine other multinational cement companies, is adhering to an action plan formulated through the Toward a Sustainable Cement Industry project with the Geneva-based World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

This plan will complement our own efforts, which I personally oversee, in operational efficiency, employee health and safety, and environmental outreach. Together, these actions form the cornerstone of our Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) program.

In 2002, we augmented our comprehensive efforts to assure the health of our employees, as well as their families and the communities in which we operate. Accordingly, we remain committed to providing a safe workplace at our facilities around the world. Our safety performance continued to improve in 2002, with a lost-time accident rate lower for the sixth straight year in both our cement and concrete sectors. Fourteen of our plants were accident-free, and almost 60% of our employees worked in business units with an accident rate of less than one percent.
  This EHS Annual Report highlights that safety record as well as CEMEX's achievements in health, and environmental and social responsibility in 2002 - global accomplishments built upon years of progress. This continuity is extremely important to us, because the future of our company relies on the foundation of sustainability we are building today.

One of the proudest moments of the year for me, and for CEMEX, was accepting the 2002 World Environment Center Gold Medal for international corporate environmental achievement. This award was possible thanks to the commitment of thousands of CEMEX employees around the world. Their dedication and ingenuity have been, and will remain, the key to our environmental stewardship efforts.

Our employees today carry on a tradition that, in many ways, began with the company in 1906. CEMEX's success - and the well-being of future generations - has the promise of our 97-year-start on tomorrow.		    
Lorenzo H. Zambrano
   
             
           
           
      Lorenzo H. Zambrano
Chairman of the Board and
Chief Executive Officer