North American Business Leaders Join Together to Support Strategic Initiative on Security and Prosperity

April 18, 2005

Business leaders in the United States, Canada and Mexico today agreed to work together to accelerate progress within the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) announced last month by United States President George W. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.

The new business initiative brings together the three most influential CEO-based organizations in North America: Business Roundtable (the Roundtable) in the United States, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) and the Consejo Mexicano de Hombres de Negocios (CMHN). The three business organizations have agreed to coordinate their efforts in order to encourage their respective governments to move ahead as quickly as possible in implementing the agenda laid out in the SPP.

“The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has brought real gains to people in all three countries over the past decade, but today we face daunting new challenges, including the relentless threat of international terrorism and the dramatic rise of developing economies such as China and India that are transforming global trade and investment,” said Roundtable President John J. Castellani. “Our security interests and economic interests have become inextricably linked.”

The SPP, which was unveiled at the March 23 North American summit in Waco, Texas, covers key areas including a common border security and bioprotection strategy, critical infrastructure protection, greater intelligence sharing and expanded border infrastructure as well as efforts to improve productivity through regulatory cooperation, more efficient movement of people and goods within North America and sectoral collaboration in energy, transportation, financial services, technology and other sectors.

“Canada, Mexico and the United States each bring unique strengths to the table, and we will be able to do far more by working together to improve the competitiveness of our economies and the wellbeing of citizens in all three countries than any of us could achieve on our own,” said Thomas d’Aquino, Chief Executive and President of the CCCE.

“The framework established by our national leaders has created an important opportunity for the business community to do our part in helping to shape a safer and more prosperous North America.  The key to social development, to improving the lives of people in every corner of the continent, is to ensure that we have a North American economy that works as efficiently as possible,” said Antonio del Valle Ruiz, Chairman of the CMHN.

The three business organizations have agreed to bring together select CEO members for a meeting in Washington, D.C., in September to assess progress and to discuss further ideas for expanding business-to-business cooperation within North America.

Business Roundtable is an association of about 160 chief executive officers of leading United States corporations with a combined workforce of more than 10 million employees in the United States.

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives is composed of the chief executive officers of 150 leading Canadian enterprises.  It has been a leading advocate of freer trade within North America since the 1980s and in 2003 launched its North American Security and Prosperity Initiative.

The Consejo Mexicano de Hombres de Negocios brings together the chief executives of Mexico’s leading corporations with the goal of encouraging sound public policy.