[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book II)]
[Pages 1092-1095]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



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

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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;

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     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

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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.