North American leaders to begin summit in New Orleans

www.chinaview.cn 2008-04-21 16:41:22  

    NEW ORLEANS, the United States, April 20 (Xinhua) --

U.S. President George W. Bush will join the leaders of neighboring Canada and Mexico here Monday for a high-profile summit focusing on promoting integrated trade and security.

    The two-day event, dubbed the "Three Amigos summit," appears to lack a dominating issue, but Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon are expected to touch upon broad topics ranging from energy supply to anti-drug measures to border issues.

    The annual summit is held under the framework of the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), a trilateral effort launched in March 2005 to smooth out trade and security arrangements in response to new developments in a post-9/11 era.

    This would be Bush's fourth and final North American Leaders' Summit because the president, who took office in 2001, has only about nine months to go before his second and last presidential term ends early next year.

    In his January State of the Union speech, Bush announced that the annual summit would be held in New Orleans, which is still recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

    City leaders have welcomed Bush's announcement as a chance to turn the world's spotlight on the city, which saw 80 percent of its land flooded and nearly 1,400 people killed in the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

    They said it would be an opportunity for the city on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to showcase its rebuilding efforts and foster new business opportunities.

    An itinerary released to the media does not include a visit by Bush to the worst-hit neighborhoods, which are distant from the Central Business District where most summit-related activities are due to take place.

    On Monday, Bush will start the day by attending the reopening ceremony of Mexico's consulate in New Orleans, which was closed in2002 due to a stringent budget.

    The U.S. president will then hold separate one-one-one sessions with Calderon and Harper in the afternoon before the three leaders converge in a dinner Monday night.

    Progress in U.S.-Mexican cooperation on anti-drug efforts is likely to dominate the private meeting between Bush and Calderon, while Bush and Harper are expected to discuss Canada's military mission in Afghanistan.

    Bush will meet with top business executives from the United States, Canada and Mexico Tuesday morning before heading into a more formal joint session with Harper and Calderon.

    The three leaders are due to wrap up the summit by holding a press conference later Tuesday.

    Last year's summit in Quebec, Canada, drew hundreds of protestors and saw incidents of violence.

    Local police are gearing up for any possible protests that may accompany the forth-coming gathering in New Orleans, where more than 30 local, national and international organizations have announced an intention to stage protests.

North America summit unlikely to yield major agreements

www.chinaview.cn 2008-04-21 09:52:38  

    WASHINGTON, April 20 (Xinhua) --

The North America summit is due to take place in New Orleans, Louisiana Monday and Tuesday, but as U.S. President George W. Bush has become a somewhat "lame-duck" president, analysts are expecting no significant outcome from the gathering.

    The summit meeting between Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderonn will be the last for Bush, who has only about nine months left before he leaves the White House and whose approval rating is only 31 percent, the lowest in his presidency.

    His numbered days in the White House, low popularity, and the fact that the opposition Democrats have taken control of the Congress have greatly reduced Bush's capability to make big decisions, which is why analysts are widely playing down on the expectations of the yearly meeting.

    They believe the leaders are very likely to reaffirm their commitment to common issues including security, trade, anti-drug cooperation at the summit, or formally called the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice particularly highlighted the importance of the scheme for promoting the U.S.-Canada-Mexico cooperation at a press conference Saturday.

    "This SPP has been a very useful mechanism for organizing the multifaceted work that Canada, the United States and Mexico undertake together. It is work that bridges all of the important issues: security, trade, prosperity," Rice told a joint press conference with visiting Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa and Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier after their meeting to lay ground work for the summit.

    "It has also permitted the leaders to engage the public and private sectors and civil society through the North American Competitiveness Council. And they look forward to, again, engaging that council, because obviously, trade and prosperity and a good life for the people of North America is not just the work of government alone," Rice said.

    What can be expected is that the leaders might put forward a few minor initiatives or agreements as Espinosa revealed at Saturday's press conference.

    "We have spoken about one initiative, which is to act jointly in cases of disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean," he said, adding: "This is, in our view, a very important initiative. We will be putting our efforts together to establish a fund so that we can act together immediately when there is a disaster situation."

    Additionally, the leaders are expected to reaffirm their commitment to holding the annual summit and high-level dialogue.

    "We have also discussed that we should strengthen and make a permanent commitment with the continuity of this high-level dialogue in North America at all levels and particularly at the level of heads of state and government," Espinosa said.

    "The meeting of the summit of the leaders of North America reflects not only what Secretary Rice has already mentioned, the SPP agenda, but also an agenda that goes beyond these issues that have been traditionally part of their security and prosperity agenda. And this is something that we are certain that will emerge as a result of the leaders meeting," the Mexican foreign minister said.

Editor: An Lu