- The United States, Canada and Mexico should form a "common
security perimeter" as part of a broad security and economic plan
aimed at boosting trade and bolstering the continent's borders, a tri-national
task for report urged Monday.
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- "Our vision of North America is one of three sovereign
states whose formal collaboration must reflect their mutual interdependence
while respecting their differences," a joint statement issued by the
task force's chairman said.
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- The Independent Task Force on the Future of North America
is headed by former Canadian deputy prime minister John Manley, former
Mexican finance minister Pedro Aspe and former Massachusetts governor William
Weld.
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- As reported in Monday's Globe and Mail, the chairmen's
statement paints a picture of a "North American community" with
a unified border plan and a common external tariff.
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- On security, the report urges a common perimeter for
the continent, with the three governments striving "toward a situation
in which a terrorist trying to penetrate our borders will have an equally
hard time doing so no matter which country he elects to enter first."
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- The paper calls a move in that direction an "ambitious
but achievable" goal that would require harmonization of visa and
asylum regulations, entry screening and tracking procedures and full sharing
of data about exit and entry of foreign nationals.
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- Security measures would also see enhanced law enforcement
and defence co-operation. Joint defence initiatives have been a particularly
contentious issue between Canada and the United States after Ottawa rejected
participation in the anti-missile shield the U.S. is working to build.
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- All three countries, the report said, should also accelerate
and expand implementation of so-called "smart border" plans to
ease travel within the continent.
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- "The three countries should develop a secure North
American border pass with biometric identifiers," the report said.
"This document would allow its bearers expedited passage through customers,
immigration and airport security throughout the region."
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- On the economic side, the report urges the adoption of
a common external tariff. That recommendation would see the three governments
begin by harmonizing external tariffs on a sector-by-sector basis to the
lowest prevailing rate.
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- "They should begin with goods on which current tariffs
are closest, then proceed to close larger gaps, with the goal over time
of adopting a common external tariff, thus eliminating the need for complex
and costly rules of origin," Monday's statement said.
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- As well, the report says the three countries should develop
a North American energy and natural resource strategy and "deepen"
educational ties, which would see scholarship and exchange programs expanded
and cross-border training programs for teachers implemented.
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- The task force was jointly sponsored by the U.S. Council
on Foreign Relations, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the
Mexican Council on Foreign Relations.
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