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Senior Member
- Jan 5, 2004
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Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America
http://www.spp.gov/report_to_leaders/index.asp?dName=report_to_leaders
Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America
Report to Leaders
June 2005
On March 23, 2005, you announced the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. At that time, you instructed Ministers to create an architecture which would further enhance the security of North America while at the same time promote the economic well-being of our citizens and position North America to face and meet future challenges. This effort builds on the excellent, long-standing relations among our three countries. The response to your request is attached.
In carrying out your instructions, we established working groups under both agendas of the Partnership - Security and Prosperity. We held roundtables with stakeholders, meetings with business groups and briefing sessions with legislatures, as well as with other relevant political jurisdictions. The result is a detailed series of actions and recommendations designed to increase the competitiveness of North America and the security of our people. While the Security and Prosperity agendas were developed by separate teams, we recognize that our economic well-being and our security are not two separate and distinct issues. In that spirit, we have worked together to ensure that the appropriate linkages are made between security and prosperity initiatives.
Upon your review and approval, we will once again meet with stakeholders and work with them to implement the workplans that we have developed. We will also encourage them to continue to provide us with new ideas and proposals which will help shape our forward agenda and our vision for North America.
To make North America secure for the future, we need integrated, coordinated and seamless measures in place at, within, and beyond our borders to provide our people and our infrastructure with the highest possible common level of protection from terrorists and other criminal elements, as well as from the common threats of nature.
To make North America prosperous for the future, we need to improve the efficiency of the movement of people, goods and services crossing our borders. We must remove barriers to trade, investment, research and education. We must protect our environment and promote the health and safety of our people.
Increased economic integration and security cooperation will further a unique and strong North American relationship - a relationship that meets your stated goals while preserving our political and cultural identities.
We recognize that this Partnership is designed to be a dynamic, permanent process and that the attached workplans are but a first step. We know that after today, the real work begins. We will now need to transform the ideas into reality and the initiatives into prosperity and security.
The success of our efforts will be defined less by the contents of the workplans than by the actual implementation of initiatives and strategies that will make North America more prosperous and more secure. We will report back to you semi-annually, highlighting progress on implementing our commitments and making recommendations for further initiatives to be pursued under the Security and Prosperity Partnership.
The report is presented in three separate sections. The first outlines several initiatives which were concluded during the preparation of this report. They represent an immediate benefit from this process. The second section outlines major themes and initiatives which focus on issues or situations which, when resolved, will provide major contributions to the economic and security integrity of the region. Finally, the last section is an annex which provides a description of all the initiatives that will be undertaken by the working groups, including a description of the project, milestones and completion dates.
Much has been accomplished in the preparation of this report. We want to commend the work of each of the working group chairs and working group participants for their creativity and their ability to work as a cohesive team with their colleagues from the other countries. We believe that if the dedication and hard work shown to date are carried forward, this Partnership can only succeed in providing the security necessary to develop a strong North American platform highlighted by sustained economic growth and job creation, and improved standards of living for our citizens.