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Wal-Mart Bolsters Mexico Joint Venture: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., boosting its efforts to expand in Mexico, beefed up its joint venture with Cifra, Mexico’s largest retailer. The Bentonville, Ark.-based chain first joined forces with Cifra in 1991, when they signed an agreement to open membership warehouse clubs together in Mexico. Under the joint venture, the two companies will split the ownership and operation of any new store that either one opens, excluding Cifra’s Suburbia apparel shops and Vips restaurant division. However, the new agreement eliminates a clause that would allow either company to withdraw from the partnership after three years, said Don Shinkle, a Wal-Mart spokesman.