[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 13 (Monday, April 1, 2002)]
[Pages 495-497]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
``The Monterrey Commitments'': Joint Statement by the Presidents of the 
United States and Mexico

March 22, 2002

    Our meeting today was a valuable opportunity to celebrate the 
strength and vitality of the U.S.-Mexican bilateral partnership over the 
past year, and discuss our priorities for the year ahead.
    Our two nations have developed a historic level of trust and mutual 
respect, strengthened by common values and purposes, that has 
facilitated an unprecedented degree of bilateral cooperation over the 
past year. It is a high national priority of both nations to continue 
building on that cooperation over the coming years and harnessing it for 
the achievement of the important goals of economic and social 
development, security, and rule of law that are essential to both 
countries' wellbeing.
    In this context, we agreed that the international campaign to 
eradicate terrorism requires us to address pressing new priorities and 
shared goals central to defending our societies and ways of life. At the 
same time, we recognized that the events of September 11 underscore more 
than ever the importance of the U.S.-Mexican relationship, as partners 
and neighbors, in the attainment of those goals and in realizing the 
vision we have set forth for our countries' future. Hence, we reviewed 
what we are doing together to create a ``smart border'' for the 21st 
century. We will build a border that protects our societies against 
those who would do us harm, and that truly serves the human and economic 
needs of our dynamic relationship. We share a vision of a modern border 
that speeds the legitimate flow of people and commerce, and filters out 
all that threatens our safety and prosperity.
    The ``smart border'' declaration and action plan we have just 
adopted sets out a series of specific steps we will take to move 
concretely toward that vision. The twenty-point action plan comprises 
measures that will enhance the secure flow of goods and people, and 
build a modern and efficient infrastructure that keeps pace with 
commerce. We intend to monitor this process closely to ensure the 
fastest possible implementation of these and other steps on which we may 
agree. Both governments will work expeditiously to prioritize 
infrastructure investment needs and cooperate to identify funding 
sources.
    Slightly more than one year ago, in Guanajuato, we talked about 
migration as one of the major ties that join our societies. We launched 
then the frankest and most productive dialogue our countries have ever 
had on this important and challenging subject. Those talks have 
continued over the past year, and have yielded a clearer assessment of 
the scope and nature of this issue. This bond between our nations can 
render countless benefits to our respective economies and families. Over 
the past year, important progress has been made to enhance migrant 
safety and particularly in saving lives by discouraging and reducing 
illegal crossings in dangerous terrain.
    On September 7, 2001, during President Fox's historic State Visit to 
Washington, we issued a joint statement instructing our cabinet-level 
working group to provide us with specific proposals to forge a new and 
realistic framework that will ensure a safe, legal, orderly, and 
dignified migration flow between our countries. We have today agreed 
that our Cabinet level migration group should continue the work we 
charged it with in Guanajuato and Washington.

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    When we first met as Presidents, we described our shared vision to 
help unfetter the economic potential of every citizen, so each may 
contribute fully to narrowing the economic gaps between and within our 
societies. To help implement that vision, we launched the ``Partnership 
for Prosperity.'' The Partnership seeks to leverage private resources to 
create jobs and promote prosperity in less developed areas of Mexico. 
Today, we welcomed the Partnership's action plan of concrete and 
innovative initiatives on housing, agriculture, infrastructure, 
remittances, communications, development financing and information 
technologies. Some examples include:
 <bullet>    Lowering the cost to Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the 
            United States of sending money home so that their families 
            get to keep more of their hard-earned wages;
 <bullet>    Increasing the accessibility of capital to Mexican 
            entrepreneurs so that they can grow their businesses and 
            create more and better jobs.
 <bullet>    Increasing investment in housing, and the creation of a 
            secondary mortgage market, so more Mexicans can become 
            homeowners.
    Our aim is to foster economic development so that no Mexican feels 
compelled to leave his or her home for a lack of a job or opportunity. 
While achieving the Partnership's goals will require time and persistent 
effort, the initial steps detailed in this report will build a strong 
foundation for long-term success. We will closely follow implementation 
of these promising steps. We are confident that the high level officials 
we have tasked with turning our vision into reality will produce results 
that will make us both proud and benefit both our countries.
    We commend the ongoing success of the Training, Internship, 
Education and Scholarship program (TIES), designed to support the 
Partnership for Prosperity by enhancing conditions for sustained 
development in Mexico. Over the next five years this $50 million 
initiative is expected to implement 35 partnerships between Mexican and 
U.S. higher education institutions and to provide hundreds of 
scholarships for undergraduate exchanges and graduate studies in the 
United States.
    When we met in Washington in September we talked about the 
importance of addressing urgent environmental priorities on the border. 
After a series of discussions with border states, the local communities, 
and other stakeholders, our binational working group has finalized a 
series of specific recommendations to strengthen the performance of the 
North American Development Bank (NADBank), and its sister institution 
the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission (BECC).
    As these institutions continue to work on urgent environmental 
infrastructure priorities in the border areas, both governments will 
work with their legislatures to make the recommendations a reality. The 
recommendations include measures to make financing more affordable, 
expand the geographic scope on the Mexican side of the border in which 
projects can be financed, replacing the two institutions' separate 
boards of directors with a single board to oversee their work, and 
facilitate efforts to work with and co-finance environmental projects 
with the private sector.
    Cooperation against organized crime remains a cornerstone of the 
bilateral agenda. We acknowledged major successes achieved by Mexico in 
the fight against narco-trafficking. We agreed on the importance of 
redoubling judicial cooperation aimed at bolstering the rule of law in 
both countries and strengthening our ability to ensure the safety of our 
citizens.
    We also reviewed regional political issues of interest to both 
countries, including sharing assessments of the situations in Argentina, 
Colombia, Cuba and Venezuela.
    We have consulted frequently, as friends and neighbors, over the 
past six months as we have sought to advance a vision of growing 
partnership aimed at increasing prosperity, greater economic convergence 
between our two economies, raising living standards, and ensuring the 
security of both societies. Our commitment to this fundamental agenda, 
and to the importance of our partnership, is stronger than ever. We will 
continue our close and productive dialogue in the months and years ahead 
as we take

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full advantage of the great opportunities before our two nations.

Note: An original was not available for verification of the content of 
this joint statement. The Office of the Press Secretary also released 
this joint statement in Spanish. This item was not received in time for 
publication in the appropriate issue.