[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 34 (Monday, August 27, 2007)]
[Pages 1097-1100]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Joint Statement by President George W. Bush, Prime Minister Stephen 
Harper of Canada, and President Felipe de Jesus Calderon Hinojosa of 
Mexico: The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America

August 21, 2007

 Montebello, Quebec, Canada
    We, the leaders of Canada, Mexico and the United States, have met in 
Montebello to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing North 
America and to establish priorities for our further collaboration. As 
neighbours, we share a commitment to ensure North America remains a 
safe, secure and

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economically dynamic region, and a competitive player in global markets. 
We also discussed opportunities to cooperate globally and within our own 
hemisphere. The values and principles we share, in particular democracy, 
the rule of law and respect for individual rights and freedoms, underpin 
our efforts in building a more prosperous and secure region.
    The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), 
launched in 2005, is aimed at jointly achieving tangible results across 
a spectrum of areas, while respecting each nation's sovereignty. On 
February 23, 2007, our ministers responsible for the SPP met in Ottawa 
to review progress and discuss our further cooperation. Our ministers of 
industry and commerce, foreign affairs, security, environment, energy, 
health, transportation and trade have also met in recent months, 
reflecting our deepening dialogue within North America. They have made 
progress in advancing the priorities we identified at our 2006 meeting 
in Cancun. In particular, our three countries have completed:
 <bullet>    a North American Plan for Avian and Pandemic Influenza;
 <bullet>    a Regulatory Cooperation Framework;
 <bullet>    an Intellectual Property Action Strategy; and
 <bullet>    a Trilateral Agreement for Cooperation in Energy Science 
            and Technology.
    In Montebello, we have discussed how we can build on our progress to 
date to further improve North America's position in the world. The North 
American Competitiveness Council (NACC), announced last year in Cancun, 
has provided us with thoughtful recommendations on how we could 
strengthen the competitive platform for businesses. We welcome the 
NACC's recommendations, including its readiness to be part of the 
solution, and we look forward to continuing our dialogue with the NACC 
in furthering North America's competitiveness. We ask that our ministers 
continue to seek input from interested parties in determining future 
priorities for increasing the security, prosperity and quality of life 
in North America. In this, the third year of the SPP, we direct our 
ministers to review the SPP process, focus on priorities and deliver 
results.
    We ask our ministers to focus their collaboration in five priority 
areas for the next year:

Enhancing the Global Competitiveness of North America

    The North American Free Trade Agreement has been a tremendous mutual 
success in strengthening our economies and in enhancing the 
competitiveness of North America. In a rapidly changing global economy, 
we must build on NAFTA's success and reduce unnecessary trade barriers 
to ensure North America remains a competitive and a dynamic place to do 
business. To this end, the Regulatory Cooperation Framework will enable 
us to develop regulatory approaches that are compatible across our 
borders, while maintaining high standards of health, safety and 
environmental protection. In the coming year, we ask our ministers to 
consider work in areas, such as the chemicals, automotive, 
transportation, and information and communications technology sectors. 
The Intellectual Property Action Strategy also gives us an invaluable 
tool for combating counterfeiting and piracy, which undermine 
innovation, harm economic development and can have negative public-
health and safety implications. We also ask our ministers to implement 
the Strategy and take concrete steps to strengthen our ability to combat 
counterfeiting and piracy in North America.
    We are strongly committed to advancing multilateral trade 
liberalization through a successful, comprehensive and ambitious 
conclusion to the WTO Doha Round of negotiations. We endorse the work of 
our trade ministers in Vancouver on June 13-14, 2007, to build on 
NAFTA's success and advance our shared interests in the Doha Round. We 
ask them to renew their efforts, working with their WTO colleagues, to 
achieve a balanced outcome that results in meaningful increases in trade 
in goods and services and improvements in global trading conditions.

Safe Food and Products

    We will seek to strengthen the existing cooperation and mechanisms 
within the region, build on current standards and practices, and work 
with our trading partners outside North

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America using a scientific risk-based approach to identify and stop 
unsafe food and products before they enter our countries. These efforts 
could include: working with authorities to strengthen inspection and 
certification in exporting countries; identifying best practices by 
importers in selecting foreign manufacturers and inspecting goods either 
before export or before distribution; and reviewing our own existing 
authorities and practices to enhance national, regional and local 
coordination. Our governments will continue to address the safety of 
food and products imported into North America, while facilitating the 
significant trade in these products that our countries already have and 
without imposing unnecessary barriers to trade.

Sustainable Energy and the Environment

    The further development of clean and sustainable energy is critical 
to reduce the effects of climate change and air pollution, while 
fuelling the North American economy. We support an integrated approach 
to climate change, energy security and economic development, and support 
the development and deployment of clean energy technologies. Cooperation 
among our major economies on a range of policy tools and sectoral 
approaches will advance these objectives. In particular, we ask our 
ministers to explore ways to cooperate on national auto fuel efficiency 
standards. We also ask our ministers to develop projects under the newly 
signed energy science and technology agreement, cooperate on moving new 
technologies to the marketplace and collaborate on energy efficiency.

Smart and Secure Borders

    Our borders must be both efficient and secure if we are to continue 
to enhance prosperity, security and quality of life in North America. 
Effective border strategies minimize security risks, while facilitating 
the efficient and safe movement of goods, services and people, as trade 
and cross-border travel increase in North America. These strategies will 
draw on risk-based border management, innovative use of new 
technologies, coordinated border infrastructure development, and by 
moving, where possible, inspection and screening away from the land 
border. It is sometimes best to screen goods and travellers prior to 
entry into North America. We ask our ministers to develop mutually 
acceptable inspection protocols to detect threats to our security, such 
as from incoming travellers during a pandemic and from radiological 
devices on general aviation. We also ask our ministers to further 
cooperate in law enforcement, screening and facilitation of legitimate 
trade and travellers across our borders.

Emergency Management and Preparedness

    The consequences of catastrophic events often transcend national 
borders. Preparation and planning can mitigate the impact of such events 
on people and our economies. Much work has been undertaken between our 
countries at national, sub-national and local levels to develop common 
approaches for responding to major incidents. We ask our ministers to 
continue this work and to address any obstacles preventing critical 
equipment, supplies and personnel from being deployed expeditiously to 
those parts of North America where they are needed. We also ask them to 
develop procedures for managing the movement of goods and people across 
our shared borders during and following an emergency.

                 * * *
    The SPP is focussed on the well-being of North America, but we also 
share a desire to work together to advance prosperity, security and 
stability globally. In Montebello, therefore, we also discussed 
opportunities to cooperate globally and within our own hemisphere. We 
ask foreign ministers to enhance dialogue and cooperation in North 
America, as well as in the hemisphere in such areas as emergency 
management and preparedness, and disaster risk reduction. Our shared 
values will continue to guide our collaboration as continental 
neighbours and global allies in the future.
    Prime Minister Harper and President Calderon were pleased to accept 
the proposal of President Bush for the United States to host the next 
meeting of North American leaders in 2008.

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