Monday, April 28, 2008
North American Leaders' Summit: Joint Statement by President Bush, President Calderon, and Prime Minister
Harper
April
22, 2008
New
Orleans
As continental
neighbors and partners committed to democratic government, the rule of law and
respect for individual rights and freedoms, Canada, Mexico and the United States have shared interests in keeping North America
secure, prosperous, and competitive in today’s global environment. We
met in New Orleans to discuss how we might collaborate further to achieve these goals, as well as to discuss our hemispheric
and global interests and concerns.
The
Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), based on the principle that security and prosperity depend on each other, is a
useful mechanism that helps us to identify and pursue practical solutions to shared challenges in North America in a way that
respects our individual and sovereign interests. We each remain open and
accountable to our own people.
The
SPP complements the success of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which has helped to triple trade since 1993
among our three countries to a projected $1 trillion in 2008. NAFTA has
offered our consumers a greater variety of better and less expensive goods and services, encouraged our businesses to increase
investment throughout North America, and helped to create millions of new jobs in all three countries. NAFTA is key to maintaining North America’s competitive edge in an increasingly complex, fast-paced
and connected global marketplace.
Our
Ministers responsible for security and prosperity met in Los Cabos, Mexico on February 27, 2008 to advance the five priority
areas we identified last year in Montebello. In New Orleans, we decided that
our Ministers should renew and focus their work in the following areas:
ˇ To increase the competitiveness
of our businesses and economies, we are working to make our regulations more compatible,
which will support integrated supply chains and reduce the cost of goods traded within North America. In the auto industry, for example, we are seeking to implement compatible fuel efficiency regimes and high
safety standards to protect human health and the environment, and to reduce the costs of producing cars and trucks for the
North American market. We also are strengthening efforts to protect
our inventors, authors, performers and other innovators by advancing our Intellectual Property Action Strategy. We have forged stronger relationships to support more effective law enforcement efforts to combat the trade
of counterfeit and pirated goods.
ˇ To make our borders smarter
and more secure, we are coordinating our long-term infrastructure plans and are taking steps to enhance services, and
reduce bottlenecks and congestion at major border crossings. In this regard,
we are working to coordinate the efforts of federal agencies to enhance capacity at major border crossing points, such as
Detroit-Windsor and San Diego-Tijuana. We are deepening cooperation on
the development and application of technology to make our border both smarter and more secure, as well as strengthen trusted
traveler and shipper programs. We will seek to allocate resources efficiently so as to avoid unnecessary inspections. We are exploring new customs procedures, such as a more uniform filing procedure, with the aim
of reducing transactional costs while enhancing the security of our borders. We
are cooperating to install advanced screening equipment at ports of entry to deter and detect the smuggling of nuclear and
radiological materials. The United States and Canada are working to finalize
a framework agreement to govern cross-border maritime enforcement operations in shared waterways. All of these efforts will help us more effectively facilitate the legal
flow of people and goods across our shared borders while addressing threats to our safety.
ˇ To strengthen energy
security and protect the environment, we are seeking to develop a framework for harmonization of energy efficiency standards,
and sharing technical information to improve the North American energy market. Together
we intend to create an outlook for biofuels for the region, work to enhance our electricity networks, and make more efficient
use of our energy through increasing fuel efficiency of our vehicles. Building
on the gains in technology over the last 5 years, we are exchanging information and exploring opportunities for joint collaboration
to further reduce barriers to expanding clean energy technologies, especially carbon dioxide capture and storage to mitigate
greenhouse gas emissions. We are working to better North America's air quality
and working together to improve the safety of chemicals in the marketplace.
ˇ To improve our citizens’ access to safe food, and health and consumer products in North America, we are increasing
cooperation and information sharing on the safety of food and products. We
are working to strengthen our respective regulatory and inspection systems to protect consumers, while maintaining the efficient
flow of food and products among our three countries. We are working to make our
food and product safety standards more compatible. We are also working to improve
continental recall capacities and are engaging the private sector to ensure that our efforts are complementary.
ˇ To improve our response
to emergencies, we are updating our bilateral agreements to enable our local, State, Provincial, and Federal authorities
to help each other quickly and efficiently during times of crisis and great need, including responding to threats posed by
cyber or chemical-biological attacks. We have made significant progress in discussions
for new bilateral emergency management agreements to help manage the movement of goods and people across the border during
and after an emergency. We will explore ways to expand cooperation in North
America to the trilateral level.
Our efforts in these areas have been informed by the insights of interested parties, in particular
the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), representatives from the business community who have helped us identify
and develop solutions to the most pressing issues affecting North American competitiveness.
Our
citizens represent the true promise and potential of North America. Our
governments help best when they act to promote the conditions necessary for the liberty, safety and success of our people. We believe that we should continue and strengthen our regular dialogue and ongoing
cooperation. The partnership among Canada, Mexico and the United States
is broader than the sum of our many bilateral and trilateral activities. We share
the goals of strengthening democratic governance and reducing barriers to trade within our region and beyond. We also share a common purpose to strengthen our hemispheric institutions and consultative processes.
We will continue working to
fight transnational threats that pose challenges to our countries and to the well being of our people, such as organized
crime; trafficking in arms, people, and drugs; smuggling; terrorism; money laundering; counterfeiting; and border violence.
The transnational nature of these threats makes it imperative that our domestic efforts be complemented and strengthened by
our cooperation together, and in international fora.
We reiterate our support for the Bali Action Plan and stress
the urgency of reaching agreement to ensure the full, effective and sustained implementation of the U.N. Framework Convention
on Climate Change now, up to and beyond 2012. We believe that the Major
Economies Leaders Meeting should make a contribution to that outcome. All
should redouble efforts to address climate change and to establish nationally appropriate programs and goals to be reflected in binding international commitments based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities
and respective capabilities, to contribute to ensuring global greenhouse gas emission reductions, adaptation measures, energy
security, and sustainable development. We are determined to work together
to further explore regional cooperation in climate change efforts, including, but not limited to, advancing innovative and
suitable clean energy technologies, building the capacity to adopt and deploy them and developing appropriate financial and
technical instruments. We reaffirm our shared conviction that increased trade
in environmental goods, services, and technologies can have a positive impact on global climate change efforts and encourage
the removal of barriers to such trade.
We welcome the invitation of President Calderón to host the next meeting of North American leaders in 2009.
——————————
The
White House, Office of the Press Secretary, April 22, 2008 (New Orleans, Louisiana)
