[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 16 (Monday, April 28, 2008)]
[Pages 575-577]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Joint Statement by President George W. Bush, President Felipe de Jesus
Calderon Hinojosa of Mexico, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada
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:
<bullet> 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
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efforts to combat the trade of counterfeit and pirated
goods.
<bullet> 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.
<bullet> 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.
<bullet> 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.
<bullet> 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
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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 Calderon to host the next
meeting of North American leaders in 2009.
Note: The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language
version of this joint statement. An original was not available for
verification of the content of this joint statement.