Prime Minister Announces New Agreements and Initiatives with Mexico

"Canada and Mexico have come a long way since President Zedillo and myself endorsed the first Declaration and Action Plan, in Ottawa in 1996," said Prime Minister Chrétien. "We are now setting a broader, more ambitious course of action with Mexico, a course which establishes the foundation for an even higher level of cooperation."

New Directions: Canada-Mexico 1999 Declaration of Objectives and Action Plan builds on the first Canada-Mexico declaration and action plan, signed in 1996. The new agreement reflects the enhanced state of political and economic relations between both countries as well as a joint commitment to even broader cooperation, most notably in the social and cultural areas.

Diplomatic Notes on amendments to the 1961 Canada-Mexico Air Transport Agreement were signed and exchanged today by Canada and Mexico. This exchange paves the way for an expansion of air services, including significant new commercial opportunities and operational flexibility for both scheduled and chartered air service providers.

The Joint Statement on Health Cooperation provides an effective framework for cooperation in specific areas such as environmental health, HIV/AIDS, exchanges and joint research.

The Agreement Concerning the Provision of Satellite Services covers mobile and fixed satellite services and provides an effective framework to facilitate bilateral trade in satellite communication services.

A Letter of Intent on Cooperation on Forest Fire Information Technology provides a framework for joint activities and projects in the development and implementation of information technology designed to assist in the forecasting, detection and control of forest fires in Mexico.

The Prime Minister also highlighted the following initiatives:

Background information is attached.

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The Declaration and Action Plan chart new territory for the bilateral relationship over the next few years, and highlight new areas of cooperation, particularly in terms of advancing Canada's and Mexico's social agendas.

Building on the accomplishments in the relationship and the momentum provided by the activities in the 1996 Action Plan, Canada and Mexico have incorporated many new elements and avenues for cooperation in New Directions. The new set of objectives and action items reflect the growing breadth and dynamism of the relationship, the participation of both state and non-state actors, and the emergence of cross-cutting issues such as social development, the environment, health and indigenous cooperation.

Under the terms of the diplomatic notes, Canada and Mexico have agreed that each country may designate up to two airlines for each city-pair for own-aircraft scheduled air services, and additional authorizations for each city-pair will be permitted for code-sharing services. In addition, designated airlines operating scheduled services and air carriers operating charter services will have access to all cities in each other's territory, with full discretion to decide the capacity and frequency of services to be offered. The agreement provides for a one-year phase-in of additional own-aircraft scheduled services between Toronto and Mexico City.

The new liberalized arrangements and safety provisions will come into force officially once the formal modifications to the 1961 bilateral agreement have been signed. It is expected that initial expansion of scheduled air services will result from new code-sharing services being introduced. Code-sharing is the practice of selling air transportation under one airline's name on the flights of another airline. It is a key marketing tool allowing carriers to broaden their international networks and to provide better passenger access to the global marketplace.

The Department of Health of Canada and the Secretariat of Health of the United Mexican States have signed a Joint Statement that affirms the commitments to cooperate in areas of public health as agreed to under the Memorandum of Understanding. Specifically, the two Ministries have agreed to cooperate in areas involving the use of tobacco, drugs and related substances, HIV/AIDS, the health of the elderly, epidemiology and laboratory techniques, environmental health and international health issues.

A plan of action detail the ways in which the two governments will cooperate on health issues. It provides for the exchange of technical information and personnel, joint workshops and seminars and joint projects on various health issues.

[Canada and Mexico have signed an Agreement Concerning the Provision of Satellite Services. This Agreement establishes the principles and a framework for future negotiations which will allow Canadian satellites and satellite service providers access to Mexican communications markets. Mexican satellites and satellite service providers will be afforded similar access to Canadian markets.]

The Letter of Intent is a supplementary arrangement to the existing 1996 Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Forestry. It provides a framework for joint activities and projects in the development and implementation of information technology designed to assist in the forecasting, detection and control of forest fires in Mexico. The range of joint activities includes: system development, system implementation, system operation, system migration and technology transfer.

The Aboriginal Trade Mission to Mexico is scheduled to take place in the next weeks and will be led by Phil Fontaine, Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and other Chiefs representing different regions of Canada. The mission will serve to explore business opportunities in areas such as eco-tourism, natural resources, new technologies and agriculture.

Ten Canadian Aboriginal Companies will be participating in the mission. They will meet with local indigenous companies and cooperatives looking forward to develop strategic commercial alliances. The Government of Mexico is playing an active role in the preparation of this mission to help ensure its success.

The project aims to strengthen the capacity of the Autonomous University of the State of Chiapas (UNACH) to recruit indigenous students by providing a curriculum which is culturally sensitive and relevant to the enhancement of their communities. At UNACH, the project will develop a curriculum in indigenous studies which deals with such issues as migrations, indigenous culture and identity, reproductive health and traditional medicine, social organization, with a focus on the transformation of gender roles, and principles and practice of indigenous laws.

At the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (SIFC), the project will foster the strengthening of the international indigenous component of the Indian studies curriculum, permitting a comparative perspective between the aboriginal peoples of Canada and the indigenous peoples of Latin America. This initiative is funded in part by the Canadian International Development Agency.

The Alliance is a non-governmental initiative to promote strategic alliances between business and higher education. It is being developed by the North American Institute (NAMI), a coalition of Canadian, Mexican and U.S. business, academic and other leaders. A Mexican Board of Directors is being established, mirroring progress already being made in Canada. The Alliance's principal objective is to foster business-higher education partnerships and encourage longer term creative problem solving. The Alliance expects to launch a number of pilot projects shortly in the fields of environmental management, business, finance, law and public management.

Canada's Spatial Fire Management System (SFMS) has been adapted to access data about Mexico's weather, vegetation and topography and transform it into fire danger indices to help predict, detect, and control forest fires.

The Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources Canada has developed this system based on 75 years of fire-danger research and 25 years experience in developing fire information systems.

The SFMS is a state-of-the-art information system. It automatically accesses weather data observed by stations in Mexico, through the World Meteorological Organization global network. It uses fire danger models to transform the weather data into fire danger indices. Geographic Information Systems produce daily national fire-danger maps. This information allows officials to make sound decisions about preventing, detecting and controlling forest fires. The system delivers the maps to forest fire decision makers through the Internet. This technology also allows the media, universities, and anyone with access to the Web to keep track of the forest fire conditions every day, throughout the country.

An agreement negotiated between the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), on the Canadian side, and INFONAVIT, a Mexican mortgage agency, provides a formula for financing the construction phase of low-cost housing. Canadian housing manufacturers whose INFONAVIT contracts have performance guarantees from the CCC will be eligible to benefit from financing through the Mexican affiliates of Canadian banks. The CMHC, in cooperation with INFONAVIT, will ensure construction standards. There is an estimated demand for 6 million low-cost units in Mexico.