Security and trade issues dominated talks among the three North American leaders who met along the Ottawa River in Montebello, Quebec in an annual summit which was shortened so that Mexico's leader could leave early to deal with the effects of Hurricane Dean. U.S. President George W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon began talks Tuesday with a council of corporate executives, who are pushing for broader coordination across North America, from regulatory standards to emergency planning. The three leaders said they want to make their borders safer without impeding trade and tourism. “We agreed that border-security measures, critical as they are, cannot threaten the bonds of friendship or commerce between us,” Harper said. In a joint statement, the leaders agreed to develop common procedures to manage the movement of goods and people, including emergency responders, across borders during a natural or security emergency. They also agreed to cooperate on identifying and stopping unsafe food, work together to develop clean energy technologies, streamline regulations to enhance the flow of trade, and fight counterfeiting and piracy. The joint statement also contained pledges to advance the Doha Round of global trade negotiations, cooperate to resolve global warming, and improve the global competitiveness of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
