    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
    [April 22, 2008]
    [Pages 557-559]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    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:
         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

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                law enforcement efforts to combat the trade of counterfeit
                and pirated goods.
         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.
         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.
         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.
         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,

    [[Page 559]]

    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 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.