U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, Mexican Secretary of Economy Sergio Garcia de Alba, and Canadian Minister of Industry Maxime Bernier meet with North American Business Leaders

WASHINGTON, DC, June 15, 2006 — U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Mexican Economy Minister Sergio Garcia de Alba and Canadian Minister of Industry Maxime Bernier today met with North American business leaders to officially launch the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC). In March, U.S. President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Harper, and Mexican President Fox, announced the creation of the NACC as a priority to their commitment to the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP).

"Today is a continuation of President Bush's strong commitment to our North American partners to focus on North America's security and prosperity," said Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. "The private sector is the driving force behind innovation and growth, and the private sector's involvement in the SPP is key to enhancing North America's competitive position in global markets."

The NACC is made up of high level business leaders from each country. Each country's council consists of ten members who will meet annually with the SPP Prosperity and Security Ministers to provide recommendations and priorities on promoting North American competitiveness globally. In addition, the governments of North America will work with the NACC to remove barriers in order to increase the competitiveness of North American firms in the global marketplace and spur economic growth.

Also today, the SPP Prosperity Ministers, Secretary Gutierrez, Secretary Garcia de Alba and Minister Bernier, met to take stock of progress on the Prosperity component of the SPP. The SPP Security Ministers, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Canadian Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day and Mexican Secretary of Interior Carlos Abascal, are also taking stock of progress on the Security component with a view to releasing a report in July. The Security and Prosperity Ministers will hold a meeting with the NACC in early fall 2006 to discuss their priorities. They will also discuss updates to the work plans and consider new initiatives.

On March 23, 2005, leaders of North America launched the SPP. This initiative is meant to reduce trade barriers and facilitate economic growth, while improving the security and competitiveness of the continent. The leaders of North America affirmed their commitment to the SPP when they met on March 31, 2006 in Cancun, Mexico.

The SPP is built on the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico (NAFTA) which entered into force on January 1, 1994. NAFTA created the world's largest free trade area, which now links 435 million people producing $13.8 trillion worth of goods and services. Total trade among all three NAFTA partners has grown from $296.7 billion in 1993 to $807.4 billion in 2005, an increase of 172 percent. The dismantling of trade barriers and the opening of markets has led to economic growth and rising prosperity in all three countries.

For more information, please contact:

Isabelle Fontaine
Office of the Honourable Maxime Bernier
Minister of Industry
(613) 995-9001

Media Relations
Industry Canada
(613) 943-2502

SPP Recent Accomplishments
(March – June 2006)

At their meeting today, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Mexican Economy Minister Sergio Garcia de Alba and Canadian Minister of Industry Maxime Bernier reviewed progress since the Leaders met in Cancun, including the following accomplishments:

• To enhance the competitive position of North American firms while maintaining high standards of health and safety, officials from the regulatory, trade, and oversight agencies from all three countries met for the first time on April 18-19, 2006 and identified a core set of elements for the Regulatory Cooperation Framework to include coordinating joint work on regulatory processes, promoting best practices, and enhancing information sharing throughout the regulatory process.



• Ongoing liberalization of rules of origin help improve the competitiveness of our industries by reducing transaction costs, facilitating the cross-border trade of goods, and making it easier for exporters to qualify for duty free treatment. In May, our three countries agreed to a third round of changes affecting over $30 billion in trilateral trade with an implementation goal of 2007.



• Energy Ministers agreed to develop recommendations to further align and strengthen energy efficiency standards; identify gaps in the research and innovation chain for key technologies; develop, with the private sector, recommendations to address barriers to the expansion of clean energy supply and deployment of technologies; and, to develop a trilateral legal instrument on energy science and technology collaboration.



• A Coordinating Body of senior officials from the three North American countries has been established, in order to develop cooperative activities in all stages of avian influenza and human pandemic influenza management.



• A task force of senior officials from the three North American countries has been established to develop a coordinated strategy aimed at combating counterfeiting and piracy. The next meeting to discuss the strategy will take place in the summer.

These initiatives build on the accomplishments identified by President Bush, President Fox and Prime Minister Harper at their meeting in Cancun, on March 30, 2006:

• To enhance growth and competitiveness in a key sector, the North American Steel Trade Committee developed a new strategy aimed at reducing market distortions, facilitating trade and promoting overall competitiveness through innovation and market development.



• To speed up response times when managing infectious disease outbreaks, save lives, and reduce health care costs, the United States and Canada signed an agreement to enable simultaneous exchange of information between virtual national laboratory networks (PulseNet).



• To make consumer goods safer, save lives, and prevent injuries, the United States and Mexico signed an agreement for advance notifications when consumer goods violate one country's safety standards or pose a danger to consumers. Canada and the United States signed a similar agreement in June.



• To promote prosperity by reducing the costs of trade, the United States and Canada decreased transit times at the Detroit/Windsor gateway, our largest border crossing point, by 50 percent.



• To increase border security, Mexican and U.S. agencies are harmonizing risk assessment mechanisms, exchanging information, and establishing protocols to facilitate detection of fraud and smuggling.

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Date Modified: 2006-06-15 Important Notices