WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a joint
statement from Prime Minister Harper, President Bush and President
Calderon:
Montebello, Quebec, Canada
We, the leaders of Canada, Mexico and the United States, have met in
Montebello to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing North America
and to establish priorities for our further collaboration. As neighbours,
we share a commitment to ensure North America remains a safe, secure and
economically dynamic region, and a competitive player in global markets. We
also discussed opportunities to cooperate globally and within our own
hemisphere. The values and principles we share, in particular democracy,
the rule of law and respect for individual rights and freedoms, underpin
our efforts in building a more prosperous and secure region.
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP),
launched in 2005, is aimed at jointly achieving tangible results across a
spectrum of areas, while respecting each nation's sovereignty. On February
23, 2007, our ministers responsible for the SPP met in Ottawa to review
progress and discuss our further cooperation. Our ministers of industry and
commerce, foreign affairs, security, environment, energy, health,
transportation and trade have also met in recent months, reflecting our
deepening dialogue within North America. They have made progress in
advancing the priorities we identified at our 2006 meeting in Cancun. In
particular, our three countries have completed:
-- a North American Plan for Avian and Pandemic Influenza;
-- a Regulatory Cooperation Framework;
-- an Intellectual Property Action Strategy; and
-- a Trilateral Agreement for Cooperation in Energy Science and
Technology.
In Montebello, we have discussed how we can build on our progress to
date to further improve North America's position in the world. The North
American Competitiveness Council (NACC), announced last year in Cancun, has
provided us with thoughtful recommendations on how we could strengthen the
competitive platform for businesses. We welcome the NACC's recommendations,
including its readiness to be part of the solution, and we look forward to
continuing our dialogue with the NACC in furthering North America's
competitiveness. We ask that our ministers continue to seek input from
interested parties in determining future priorities for increasing the
security, prosperity and quality of life in North America. In this, the
third year of the SPP, we direct our ministers to review the SPP process,
focus on priorities and deliver results.
We ask our ministers to focus their collaboration in five priority
areas for the next year:
Enhancing the Global Competitiveness of North America
The North American Free Trade Agreement has been a tremendous mutual
success in strengthening our economies and in enhancing the competitiveness
of North America. In a rapidly changing global economy, we must build on
NAFTA's success and reduce unnecessary trade barriers to ensure North
America remains a competitive and a dynamic place to do business. To this
end, the Regulatory Cooperation Framework will enable us to develop
regulatory approaches that are compatible across our borders, while
maintaining high standards of health, safety and environmental protection.
In the coming year, we ask our ministers to consider work in areas, such as
the chemicals, automotive, transportation, and information and
communications technology sectors. The Intellectual Property Action
Strategy also gives us an invaluable tool for combating counterfeiting and
piracy, which undermine innovation, harm economic development and can have
negative public-health and safety implications. We also ask our ministers
to implement the Strategy and take concrete steps to strengthen our ability
to combat counterfeiting and piracy in North America.
We are strongly committed to advancing multilateral trade
liberalization through a successful, comprehensive and ambitious conclusion
to the WTO Doha Round of negotiations. We endorse the work of our trade
ministers in Vancouver on June 13-14, 2007, to build on NAFTA's success and
advance our shared interests in the Doha Round. We ask them to renew their
efforts, working with their WTO colleagues, to achieve a balanced outcome
that results in meaningful increases in trade in goods and services and
improvements in global trading conditions.
Safe Food and Products
We will seek to strengthen the existing cooperation and mechanisms
within the region, build on current standards and practices, and work with
our trading partners outside North America using a scientific risk-based
approach to identify and stop unsafe food and products before they enter
our countries. These efforts could include: working with authorities to
strengthen inspection and certification in exporting countries; identifying
best practices by importers in selecting foreign manufacturers and
inspecting goods either before export or before distribution; and reviewing
our own existing authorities and practices to enhance national, regional
and local coordination. Our governments will continue to address the safety
of food and products imported into North America, while facilitating the
significant trade in these products that our countries already have and
without imposing unnecessary barriers to trade.
Sustainable Energy and the Environment
The further development of clean and sustainable energy is critical to
reduce the effects of climate change and air pollution, while fuelling the
North American economy. We support an integrated approach to climate
change, energy security and economic development, and support the
development and deployment of clean energy technologies. Cooperation among
our major economies on a range of policy tools and sectoral approaches will
advance these objectives. In particular, we ask our ministers to explore
ways to cooperate on national auto fuel efficiency standards. We also ask
our ministers to develop projects under the newly signed energy science and
technology agreement, cooperate on moving new technologies to the
marketplace and collaborate on energy efficiency.
Smart and Secure Borders
Our borders must be both efficient and secure if we are to continue to
enhance prosperity, security and quality of life in North America.
Effective border strategies minimize security risks, while facilitating the
efficient and safe movement of goods, services and people, as trade and
cross-border travel increase in North America. These strategies will draw
on risk-based border management, innovative use of new technologies,
coordinated border infrastructure development, and by moving, where
possible, inspection and screening away from the land border. It is
sometimes best to screen goods and travellers prior to entry into North
America. We ask our ministers to develop mutually acceptable inspection
protocols to detect threats to our security, such as from incoming
travellers during a pandemic and from radiological devices on general
aviation. We also ask our ministers to further cooperate in law
enforcement, screening and facilitation of legitimate trade and travellers
across our borders.
Emergency Management and Preparedness
The consequences of catastrophic events often transcend national
borders. Preparation and planning can mitigate the impact of such events on
people and our economies. Much work has been undertaken between our
countries at national, sub-national and local levels to develop common
approaches for responding to major incidents. We ask our ministers to
continue this work and to address any obstacles preventing critical
equipment, supplies and personnel from being deployed expeditiously to
those parts of North America where they are needed. We also ask them to
develop procedures for managing the movement of goods and people across our
shared borders during and following an emergency.
The SPP is focussed on the well-being of North America, but we also
share a desire to work together to advance prosperity, security and
stability globally. In Montebello, therefore, we also discussed
opportunities to cooperate globally and within our own hemisphere. We ask
foreign ministers to enhance dialogue and cooperation in North America, as
well as in the hemisphere in such areas as emergency management and
preparedness, and disaster risk reduction. Our shared values will continue
to guide our collaboration as continental neighbours and global allies in
the future.
Prime Minister Harper and President Calderon were pleased to accept the
proposal of President Bush for the United States to host the next meeting
of North American leaders in 2008.
SECURITY AND PROSPERITY PARTNERSHIP OF NORTH AMERICA:
NEXT STEPS
We, the leaders of North America, have asked our ministers to pursue
the following priority activities and ask them to report to us on their
progress in one year:
Enhancing the Global Competitiveness of North America
Global markets are changing, with dynamic new players becoming more
competitive and innovative. More and more firms are relying on inputs from
a wide range of international sources for their manufacturing and
production processes. In this highly competitive environment, compatible
regulations and standards enable us to protect health, safety and the
environment, as well as to facilitate trade in goods and services across
our borders. Strong copyright and piracy protection also encourage
entrepreneurship and protect our citizens. Over the coming year, we ask our
ministers to strengthen North America as a platform for global success and
to achieve progress on regulatory cooperation and the protection of
intellectual property. In particular, we ask our ministers to implement:
The Regulatory Cooperation Framework announced today by:
-- strengthening regulatory cooperation, streamlining regulations and
processes, encouraging compatibility of regulations and eliminating
redundant testing and certification requirements while maintaining
high standards of health, safety and environmental protection;
-- considering measures and initiatives in areas such as the chemical,
automotive, transportation, and information and communication
technology sectors; and
-- undertaking trilateral cooperation to accelerate and strengthen our
national and regional risk-based chemical assessment and management
efforts.
The Intellectual Property Action Strategy released today by:
-- developing collaborative measures to improve the detection and
deterrence of counterfeiting and piracy, expanding public awareness
of the importance of intellectual property to our economies and for
consumer health and safety, and better measuring the scope and
magnitude of counterfeiting and piracy in North America; and
-- taking steps such as developing best practices for enforcement and
sharing information and intelligence on border enforcement techniques.
We also endorse our ministers' plans to
-- develop an economic work plan to respond to the ever increasing
pressures on North American competitiveness and to facilitate trade
in specific sectors to foster stronger North American value chains; and
-- conduct an analysis of the free trade agreements that each country has
negotiated subsequent to the NAFTA, beginning with those in the western
hemisphere, including opportunities for innovative provisions on rules
of origin.
Safe Food and Products
In order to promote the safety of imported products that enter North
America and to facilitate trade, we ask ministers to:
-- strengthen existing mechanisms within the region and the exchange
information on import-safety issues, with the objective of enhancing
the safety of food and products before they enter our countries; and
-- identify and share with their SPP counterparts the best practices
used by importing companies in each country to secure their supply
chains and ensure that quality and safety are built into products
before they are exported.
Sustainable Energy and the Environment
Balancing our energy requirements with the stewardship of our environment
is one of the greatest challenges of our time. We need to enhance our
research into new and clean technologies, facilitate the deployment of
these technologies to the market, and improve our energy efficiency. We
ask our ministers to advance work over the next year to:
-- identify and pursue cooperative energy science and technology
activities under the newly signed Trilateral Agreement for Cooperation
in Energy and Science Technology;
-- reduce barriers to the deployment of new and clean technologies;
-- continue with efforts to align energy efficiency standards in key
products and standby power consumption;
-- cooperate for our mutual benefit in the development of biofuels,
vehicle fuel efficiency technologies and technologies to reduce
emissions; and
-- share information and experience and cooperate in efforts to achieve
comparable emission measurement, reporting and verification, in order
to develop publicly available national emissions inventories. This
exchange would include sharing of emissions information on, for
example, NOx, SOx, CO2, VOCs, NH3, Hg and particulates.
Smart and Secure Borders
Our three countries have a long history of cooperative border
management, predicated on the understanding that our prosperity and
security depend on borders that operate efficiently and effectively under
all circumstances. In some cases, the best time to screen travellers and
commerce is before they enter North America. Coordinated, mutually
acceptable procedures for detecting threats far from our borders are a
means to do this. Recognizing differences in legal frameworks and policies,
and noting the positive effect on our common security of current
information sharing initiatives, we will seek to enhance our cooperation in
this respect.
We ask ministers to continue to pursue measures to facilitate the safe
and secure movement of trade and travellers across our borders and, in particular, to:
-- expedite air transportation through the development of comparable
protocols and procedures to eliminate duplicate screening for baggage
placed on a connecting flight in North America, and for inbound and
outbound air cargo shipments;
-- develop mutually acceptable approaches to screening for radiological
and other similar threats, to include general aviation pathways, and
to continue to undertake cooperative or joint research to manage such
threats;
-- develop mutually acceptable approaches to screening people during a
pandemic;
-- pursue, according to our respective laws, new, innovative and
interoperable law enforcement models that promote seamless operations
at the border, such as the Canada-US International Maritime Security
Operations, to better protect our citizens from criminal and
terrorist threats;
-- improve and expand existing radio communications available to law
enforcement agencies working on border security and cross-border law
enforcement;
-- work with stakeholders to identify ways to further enhance benefits of
trusted traveller programs (NEXUS, FAST and SENTRI), including through
expanding and streamlining application processing, further program
integration and coordinated infrastructure investments;
-- alleviate bottlenecks at the US-Mexico border, facilitate the
legitimate flow of trade and people, and increase border security to
address specific border issues related to congestion, current and
future infrastructure needs, customs cooperation, stakeholder outreach
and technology; and
-- Canada and the US will maintain a high priority on the development of
enhanced capacity of the border crossing infrastructure in the
Detroit-Windsor region, the world's busiest land crossing.
Emergency Management and Preparedness
Neighbours help each other in times of distress. Our governments have
worked together to address how we might better prevent, prepare for, and
respond to disasters -- either natural or man-made -- by developing a
common approach to all aspects of emergency management. We ask our
ministers to continue this work and specifically to:
-- define, develop and coordinate appropriate responses to catastrophic
incidents in North America; and
-- develop bilateral and trilateral protocols and procedures through the
Canada-Mexico-United States Emergency Management Council to manage the
movement of goods and people, including emergency responders, across
our shared borders during and following an emergency, and to improve
communications among governments and between governments and industry,
particularly during times of increased threat.
THE SECURITY AND PROSPERITY PARTNERSHIP OF NORTH AMERICA:
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS SINCE MARCH 2006
Strengthening the Competitiveness of North America
-- To lower costs for business, maximize trade and protect health, safety
and the environment, our governments completed a trilateral Regulatory
Cooperation Framework. The framework promotes information sharing
among regulators and greater compatibility of regulations and
regulatory processes.
-- To enhance our common efforts to protect intellectual property rights,
the three governments finalized an Action Strategy to combat
trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy.
-- To strengthen our energy security, environmental protection and
economic sustainability, our governments finalized a Trilateral
Agreement for Cooperation in Energy Science and Technology.
-- To increase trade among our three countries, our governments
implemented changes to the NAFTA rules of origin by mid-2006 that
covered approximately $30 billion in annual trilateral trade. An
additional set of changes, agreed to in 2007, will reduce
export-related transaction costs for approximately $100 billion in
annual trilateral trade.
-- To promote safety and the seamless flow of goods across our border,
Canada and the United States have agreed to the reciprocal recognition
of containers used for the transportation of dangerous goods.
-- To enhance the introduction of new wireless services and technologies,
Canada and the United States have implemented a new process to
expedite radio spectrum sharing arrangements for the border regions.
This ensures citizens have timely access to the latest wireless
services, and public safety and national security authorities have the
spectrum they need, when they need it.
-- To improve the compatibility and reliability of critically important
wireless communications for public safety/first responders, Mexico and
the United States signed a protocol in August facilitating cross
border communications.
-- To facilitate the trade of telecommunications equipment, Canada and
the United States recognized each other's testing and certification
for telecommunications equipment. Mexico will have a process in place
by the end of 2007 to mutually accept test reports from the US and
Canada. This reduces production costs and shortens the time to bring
new products to market.
-- To modernize aviation relations and provide airlines with added
flexibility to offer better choices and services, the United States
and Canada signed and implemented the text of a comprehensive
Open-Skies air transport agreement on March 12, 2007.
-- To increase border crossing efficiency at the port of entry, the
United States and Mexico announced synchronized, extended hours of
operation at the Santa Teresa/San Jeronimo Port of Entry starting
September 2007.
-- As part of the North American Steel Strategy, North American
governments launched a trilateral, publicly-available North American
Steel Trade Monitor website presenting North American steel trade data
on a consolidated basis.
-- Mexico and the United States established a bilateral Border
Facilitation Working Group to advance in the areas of infrastructure,
technology, coordination, and stakeholder outreach and engagement
while ensuring high levels of security at our points of entry.
Improving the Safety and Security of our Citizens
-- To better detect nuclear and radiological material at ports, the
Mexican government has agreed to install advanced radiological
detection technology at the ports of Lazaro Cardenas, Altamira,
Manzanillo and Veracruz. About 92 percent of Mexico's maritime cargo
passes through these ports.
-- To improve surveillance at ports, Canada has completed the
installation of radiation detection equipment in Montreal, Halifax and
Deltaport in Vancouver which, when fully operational, will screen 100
percent of inbound containers.
-- To improve the security and predictability of travel documents, Canada
and the United States approved the Recommended Standards for Secure
Proof of Status and Nationality.
-- To enhance and strengthen cargo security programs, Canada and the
United Sates initiated a five-year program to harmonize automated
commercial information systems.
Protecting our Environment, Health and Quality of Life
-- To detect, contain and control an avian influenza outbreak, and to
mitigate the impacts of a possible human influenza pandemic in North
America, our governments have finalized a North American Plan for
Avian and Pandemic Influenza.
-- To promote energy efficiency, our governments have harmonized energy
performance standards for key household appliances and consumer
products, such as freezers, refrigerators and room air conditioners.
-- To raise the health status of indigenous people, Canada, Mexico and
the United States exchanged information and research on various
indigenous health issues, including suicide prevention, Fetal Alcohol
Spectrum Disorder, diabetes and indigenous health systems.
-- To benefit our environment and quality of life, Canada and the United
States signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) aimed at improving
motor vehicle fuel efficiency. The MoC will allow the two countries
to benefit from each others knowledge and experience in the area of
fuel efficiency.
-- To protect the environment, enhance health of people and promote the
competitiveness of the automotive industry, Mexico started a program
to gradually increase, from 2006 to 2009, the supply of low sulphur
fuels in all the country.
-- To improve the ecological health of our shared marine resources, our
governments continued to expand the North American Marine Protected
Areas (MPA) Network. The Network will use our countries' marine
protected areas in the development of a tri-national MPA-based
monitoring program stretching from Baja to the Bering Strait.
-- To assure the safety of consumers and the security of our food and
agriculture systems, Canada, Mexico and the United States agreed to
share current threat and vulnerability assessment methodology and
information for the food and agriculture systems, including imported
and exported foods of higher concern, then undertake joint threat and
vulnerability assessments.
-- To better inform our citizens and civil society and receive input on
our collaborative efforts under the SPP framework, the governments of
Mexico and Canada hosted seminars with academics and specialists on the
three countries as part of an ongoing public policy consultation
process regarding the future of North America.
SOURCE White House Press Office
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