Prime Minister Harper concludes Leaders' meetings in Cancun

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of his visit to Cancun, Mexico, where he met with U.S. President George W. Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox.

“What we have accomplished in these meetings is important for Canadians,” said the Prime Minister. “Canada, the United States and Mexico are demonstrating a common will to tackle issues that are central to the quality of life of Canadians and all of our continent's citizens. We are making sure that we have smart borders that are both safe and productive; we're ensuring that Canadian business has a say in how we make our market more competitive; and we are discussing how to deal collectively with emergencies like pandemics, which have no regard for national frontiers.”

The three leaders took the opportunity to discuss trilateral Canada-U.S.-Mexico cooperation, with particular attention paid to shared security, prosperity and quality-of-life objectives under the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). The three leaders reviewed progress on implementation of the SPP and reaffirmed their commitment to advancing a positive agenda for the continent.

At the conclusion of the two days of trilateral meetings, the three leaders issued a joint statement outlining significant outcomes and focusing on key priorities and themes such as:

• The establishment of a North American Competitiveness Council. This council will comprise business representatives as well as representatives of the three governments, so that businesses themselves have a say in identifying and targeting those initiatives that are most relevant to creating a more competitive market.
• A commitment to implementing, within the next two years, several measures aimed at continuing to create smarter and safer borders. These measures will place emphasis on increased law enforcement cooperation and reducing border slowdowns affecting legitimate trade flow.
• A commitment to increasing cooperation between the three countries in response to natural or man-made disasters. In particular, the three countries endorsed guiding principles and made specific commitments towards a coordinated approach to deal with avian flu or human pandemic influenza.
• A reaffirmed commitment to putting in place a trilateral framework for regulatory cooperation. In addition to strengthening cooperation between regulators from the three countries, the framework will help reduce the redundant testing and certification requirements companies currently face.
• An initiative to promote innovation, research and development in areas such as clean energy technologies. This will contribute towards energy security and sustainable development. In addition to the trilateral portion of the visit, Prime Minister Harper had substantive bilateral discussions with his American and Mexican counterparts. During his meeting with President Fox, the two leaders discussed their countries' growing trade and reviewed progress to date on the Canada Mexico Partnership. At the conclusion of the meeting, the two leaders expressed an interest in building on this current momentum.

During Prime Minister Harper`s meeting with President Bush, the two leaders had a positive and productive discussion that spanned a number of important global and bilateral issues including NAFTA, softwood lumber, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, BSE and Devils Lake. They reaffirmed their commitment to work together to build democracy and peace in Afghanistan, help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Darfur in Sudan, and to support stability in Haiti and in the Americas.