Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay will meet Friday with key Mexican and U.S. counterparts, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to discuss the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.
MacKay will bring Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day and Industry Minister Maxime Bernier to the Ottawa meetings.
The U.S. contingent will include Rice and Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff while the Mexican delegation will include Foreign Affairs Secretary Patricia Espinosa, Secretary of the Interior Francisco Javier Ramirez Acuna, and Secretary of Economy Eduardo Sojo Garza-Aldape.
Thomas Shannon, a U.S. State Department representative, made the announcement on Thursday.
He said Rice will have the opportunity to hold bilateral meetings with both Canada and Mexico during the gathering, in addition to the scheduled trilateral talks.
Since the SPP was formed, the leaders of the three nations have met twice. First in 2005 in Texas, then in Mexico in 2006, and they will meet again sometime later this year.
Friday's ministerial meeting is meant to pave the way for that gathering, Shannon said.
The SPP was formed in 2005 to boost trade and security in all three nations.
"It is a trilateral agreement or arrangement between Canada and the United States and Mexico to meet on a regular basis at both the leader level and ministerial level to discuss how we can improve the economic competitiveness of the three North American countries, improve trading relationships within North America and understand how to protect the prosperity and the well-being of the citizens in the three countries," Shannon said.
He pointed out that a massive US$850 billion in trade takes place between the three countries each year.
