Press Release

Security and Prosperity Partnership (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.