

	December 15, 2005 JS-3058 Joint Statement by Secretary John W. Snow of the United States and Secretary Francisco Gil Diaz of Mexico Mexico City We are very pleased to have this opportunity to meet to discuss our strong bilateral partnership, as well as regional and global issues of mutual interest. Our meeting comes at a time of strong economic performance within a context of price stability in both of our countries. U.S. real GDP rose at an annual rate of 4.3 percent in the third quarter of 2005 – the tenth straight quarter with growth of at least 3.3 percent. In Mexico, real GDP was up 3.3 percent in the 12 months ending in the third quarter of 2005. For the 12 months ending in November, core inflation was 2.1 percent in the United States and consumer price inflation was 2.9 percent in Mexico. Total trade between the United States and Mexico was up 7 percent in the first three quarters of 2005 versus the same period last year. Sustaining strong economic growth is essential to raising incomes and fighting poverty. In this context, we discussed the fundamental importance of significant progress from this week's World Trade Organization Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong. Further global trade liberalization in the Doha round, including in financial services, is critically needed as an engine for higher economic growth, job creation, and poverty reduction around the world. Experience from around the world demonstrates that sound economic policies and open markets are the most potent tools available for achieving large and lasting reductions in poverty. Mexico's experience is instructive. Mexico's commitment to strong macroeconomic policies has enabled it to seize the opportunities offered by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). During the last 11 years, two-way U.S.-Mexico trade increased threefold to reach around $270 billion in 2004. The poverty rate in Mexico has dropped 17 percent since NAFTA. We are seeking – in cooperation with our Canadian partners – to build on the successes of NAFTA through a new partnership launched by our leaders last spring: the Security & Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). Our ongoing work on financial market linkages and on the exchange of financial information is a key part of the SPP's comprehensive agenda for deepening North American integration aimed at strengthening competitiveness and increasing security. We are also committed to building on the successes of our bilateral collaboration in the U.S.-Mexico Partnership for Prosperity (P4P). Reducing costs and facilitating remittance transfers has been a major focus of our work under the Partnership. Spurring greater competition in the private remittances market has reduced the average cost of remittance transfers by two thirds since 1999. We look forward to receiving the recommendations of the private-sector P4P Finance Issues Advisory Group next year on how to further enhance the conditions for the provision of low-cost remittance services. Finally, we discussed our joint efforts to increase economic growth and fight poverty throughout Latin America. We agreed that improving the investment environment, giving people opportunities to start and finance a business, investing in their health and education, and building infrastructure are key. We discussed ways in which the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) can more effectively meet the needs of the poorest in our Hemisphere. We look forward to working together with the IDB Management and other shareholders to achieve reforms that better employ the bank's assets, expand financing to the private sector, encourage accountability and performance, and address the debt sustainability of the poorest countries in the region. We exchanged ideas on strategies for increasing investment in productive infrastructure to help Latin American countries harvest the benefits of greater integration into the global economy. We pledged to work with others in the region to create a multilateral Infrastructure Facility of the Americas to rate the quality of project proposals. This rating system can help unlock larges flows of private finance for infrastructure by improving investor information. We look forward to deepening our economic integration and advancing our cooperation to maximize benefits for our citizens.