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Skriven 2006-03-30 23:33:02 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0603309) for Thu, 2006 Mar 30
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Press Briefing by Dan Fisk, Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs,
NSC
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 30, 2006

Press Briefing by Dan Fisk, Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs,
NSC
Press Filing Center
Cancun, Mexico



6:25 P.M. (Local)

MR. McCLELLAN: Good evening, everyone. I've got Dan Fisk here with us. He
is our Senior Director in the National Security Council for the Western
Hemisphere, and he's here to kind of give you a little bit more of a
readout on the meetings today, and then maybe preview tomorrow a little
bit, as well, to set that up.

Obviously, the President had very good meetings today with both President
Fox and Prime Minister Harper. We have good relationships with both
countries, and this was an opportunity to really build upon those
relationships. And with that, I'll just turn it over to Dan, and he'll be
here for whatever questions, too.

MR. FISK: Thank you. Let me talk a little bit about the set of meetings
today. First, today's focus was really on the bilateral relationships we
have with Canada and Mexico, and wanting to emphasize the importance that
the President places on dealing respectively with the two countries, as
they are our largest trading partners -- number one and number two, Canada
and Mexico -- and clearly our closest neighbors.

First, the meeting with President Fox today focused on three areas: one,
immigration reform overall; second, the specific aspect of border security;
and then, third area on U.S.-Mexico cooperation.

Here again it was the emphasis on how our two countries can work together,
opportunities to expand that cooperation, to deepen it, and most
importantly, given that this is probably one of the last times that
President Fox and President Bush will meet as -- with President Fox as
President, talking about how to institutionalize the cooperation that has
grown and deepened over the last five years.

The President also really saw this as an opportunity -- President Bush
really saw this as an opportunity to reaffirm his commitment to
comprehensive immigration reform and also to emphasize as an essential
element of that, cooperation on the border, doing more on border security
on both sides. And that's something that the two Presidents share, is the
dynamics of how we protect our borders, not only the United States-Mexico
border, but the dynamics that Mexico has to deal with in terms of its own
southern border and the issues there.

Clearly, on overall U.S.-Mexico cooperation, positive discussions on that,
what more can be done, what we've been doing in terms of addressing alien
smuggling, in terms of combating narcotics, steps to take against money
laundering. The President acknowledged the important steps that Mexico has
taken in terms of extraditions. There's been a great number of extraditions
that have occurred under President Fox. And the other thing the President
wanted to convey to President Fox was his appreciation -- President Bush's
appreciation for the leadership that President Fox has taken within the
hemisphere: the support for democracy, his work with the Central Americans,
issues on energy security and energy diversification of the hemisphere, and
also standing up for free trade and moving forward the agenda on economic
liberalization.

Let me switch for a moment to the meeting that the President had with Prime
Minister Harper. The day started out, just as a point of reference, with
the President and the Prime Minister traveling together to Chichen-Itza. So
they had an opportunity at that point to talk about a number of global
issues. And one of the key themes and key topics of conversation for the
President and the Prime Minister was the fact that we, with Canada, are
global partners; that this is more than a bilateral relationship, it's more
than a trilateral relationship. It's one in which we have global interests,
we share global interests -- we're working together in Afghanistan, we're
working together in Sudan, we have a presence in Haiti. And again, there's
-- Canada and the United States' interests and shared values overlap; also,
in terms of the Canadian strong support for democracy, not only in the
hemisphere, but throughout the world.

Clearly, bilateral issues came up. Softwood lumber was raised by the Prime
Minister. As the President said, Prime Minister Harper made an emphatic
case on softwood lumber, and the President and Prime Minister agreed that
we need to get this issue resolved and moving forward.

They also discussed the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. This is the
issue of the kind of documentation, passport or passport-like that people
will need to cross the border. And they talked about that and how we need
to move forward cooperatively.

Also talked about their commitment to NORAD renewal and strengthening and
deepening one of the oldest and longest defense relationships that exists
in the world. And then also issues of energy and environment and
cooperation, and how to address not just specific issues and irritants in
the relationship such as Devil's Lake, but overall, how to talk
strategically about more cooperation in dealing with clean air and
greenhouse gases.

So those were the bilateral meetings. This evening, the three leaders will
have a private dinner, and it's just an open agenda to talk about whatever
is on their mind. And then tomorrow there will be the trilateral meetings,
formal meetings of the Security and Prosperity Partnership. And first of
all will be a leaders' meeting to talk about some specific initiatives, and
also their vision of where they want to take this North American
relationship. And then there will be a meeting with private sector
representatives to talk specifically about how we can position our
countries to be more competitive in today's global economy.

With that, I'll be happy to stop and take some questions.

Yes, sir.

Q President Fox said that he brought up the issue of the All-American
Canal. What did President Bush say on that? Is there any softening in his
support for Colorado or California on that?

MR. FISK: President Fox -- thank you for reminding me -- President Fox did
raise that issue. The dynamic with the All-American Canal continues to be
that this is one that overlaps and primarily is a state issue dealing with
the state of California.

What we want to make sure is that there's dialogue going on between the
United States and Mexico, that we're talking through the issues of concern
to the Mexicans. We are very sensitive to those and, again, making sure
that there's dialogue to the extent that we can, from the federal
government's perspective, encourage that, and make sure that happens, but
again recognizing that there are certain state responsibilities and state
authorities. President Fox understands we're going to be respectful of our
federalist system and division of labor on that. But we think that there's
a good opportunity to at least talk through some of these issues and focus
on how do we address the Mexican concerns and the population of Mexicali,
who would be affected by this.

Q (Inaudible.)

MR. FISK: At this point -- yes, we get the appropriate officials together
to talk through what are the issues, what are the concerns, and then more
importantly, how to address those.

Yes, ma'am.

Q What's the next step for tomorrow's meeting? Have they agreed to
institutionalize those meetings, as well as to hold them every year?

MR. FISK: The question on tomorrow -- one of the questions that will be
addressed tomorrow is exactly what are the next steps in terms of
institutionalizing the Security and Prosperity Partnership at a leaders'
level. At a day-to-day level, I think that the institutionalization is well
underway. We have all -- we have a great deal of communication that's
developed over the last year that, frankly, we didn't have even two years
ago -- at the working level, the ministerial level.

So the question that the leaders are going to in part -- address and get
each other's views on is, at their level, what is it they need to be doing
to keep moving this forward, to keep giving it vision. So -- there has been
discussion of whether or not it's an annual meeting, whether or not it's
some kind of periodic meeting. So that, at this point, is still an open
question, but it will be addressed.

Was there a second part to your question? Okay.

Q Between the two halves of that partnership which focuses on security on
the one end and prosperity on the other, can you talk about where you're
making more progress? Is it on security, or is it on prosperity?

MR. FISK: The question is, in effect, since there's two parts to the
security and prosperity, where is it we feel we're making more progress. I
want to be careful in terms how to judge this because the basis of the
Security and Prosperity Partnership is that the two are inexorably linked.
In other words, you can't talk about one in a vacuum -- although, NAFTA,
clearly, was one of the dynamics and agreements that's helped generate this
North American thinking and construct. In both areas, we're making
significant progress. I believe that one could look back historically and
say we've made more progress in the prosperity side because there's a
longer history there. There's a NAFTA structure that predates the SPP by
almost a decade. So, in that regard, there is one where I think you can
show greater progress.

But I would be hesitant to say that it's in any way out of balance -- is
that, again, the security side is important. We're overcoming a lot of
institutional dynamics there. But the SPP continues -- the Security and
Prosperity Partnership continues to be elemental and fundamental to this
increased cooperation on the whole range of issues.

Q Can you go through the significant progress in the area of security?

MR. FISK: Significant progress in security area. I think the most
significant progress in the security area, as much as anything, has been in
the exchange of information, and in terms of institutionalizing that
exchange so it happens by design, not by accident. Historically, our
relationships, especially if you look at the southern border, the
U.S.-Mexico border, the relationship in information-sharing and cooperation
has been episodic. It's been driven in a lot of cases by local
relationships. That continues to be the case in terms of the local
relationships. But now with the Security and Prosperity Partnership, we've
been able to work more and more and make this work across-the-board, across
all agencies, and across a number of levels, and also to put in place
mechanisms to where there is a certain automaticity to it, and that there
is the obligation on the part of governments to share information so that
if one side can't take action, or one side is taking action, that there is
better information going to the other side -- and this, by the way, works
both ways, in terms of the information flow -- so that both parties are
aware of this.

And I think that the Security and Prosperity Partnership has allowed us,
the United States and Mexico, to talk about this kind of relationship in a
totally different way, and to do away with some of the historical
caricatures that existed between the two societies and those agencies that
deal with the security. So, in a lot of ways, what we've been able to do is
put together a framework that's increased the comfort level, but also the
efficiency and the effectiveness of how we communicate, and to make it, in
many cases now, real-time.

I will not, in any way, say that it's perfect. We have work to do. There
are challenges out there. But we now have a framework, we now have a
foundation to build on that, and every day what we're seeing is we're
seeing confidence being put into that foundation.

Yes, sir.

Q What are the issues for the initiatives that you say are going to --

MR. FISK: What are the issues for the initiatives -- in what sense? I'm
sorry.

Q -- agree on some initiatives tomorrow. Is that something formal, or is
this along the lines of all the issues you've already touched on?

MR. FISK: No, there are going to be a specific set of issues, five specific
issues in which the leaders are going to give specific direction to the
respective ministries and bureaucracies that we need to move forward in
terms of greater collaboration in defined areas.

So it's more -- tomorrow's meeting is more than just a report on what's
happened over the last year. It's really to say we've had a year of
practice, we've had a year of action; now where is it the leaders want to
take this, in terms of specifics, but also in terms of the larger -- their
larger vision of North America.

Q Can you comment on -- (inaudible) --

MR. FISK: I'm not sure how much I -- okay, let me just go through them
very, very quickly, on the five issues. North American competitiveness --
how are we positioned to be competitive, more competitive in today's global
economy. And part of that is going to be tied into the meeting the leaders
have with the representatives of the private sector.

The second issue goes to how we're prepared to deal with emergencies --
natural disasters, whether they're natural disasters or manmade disasters.
Again, I think we've seen with not only what happened in the United States
in hurricane season, but what happened here in Mexico, that both countries
responded -- actually, all three countries responded -- and so, how to
better coordinate on that.

A third issue is how to deal with avian and pandemic influenza, and, again,
how we can collaborate and move forward on that so we've got a trilateral
system in place.

Fourth issue is energy -- energy security, what more can we be doing in
terms of research and development and collaboration on clean energy and
clean energy-related technologies, again, trilaterally.

And then the fifth area is smart, secure borders. And this is to expand
upon what is a number of ongoing initiatives under the SPP to increase the
harmonization, cooperation that exists within the security framework on
borders specifically.

Q Did President Fox ask President Bush to do more to get the guest worker
-- (inaudible) --

MR. FISK: The question is, did President Fox ask President Bush to do more
to get a guest worker program, and what assurances or what wording -- or
what did the President convey back.

President Fox clearly conveyed his interest in immigration reform overall.
He again raised the interest of a guest worker program. The other thing
President Fox reiterated for the President is that Mexicans and the
government of Mexico understand that this is a shared responsibility, that
immigration is not something that is one-sided, that there are shared
responsibilities and shared obligations, and that the Mexicans are
recognizing that and beginning to take some steps on that.

The President's basic message back to President Fox was a reaffirmation of
President Bush's vision of comprehensive immigration reform and the
necessity -- we've got to have a logical, rational, compassionate system
that deals with the whole spectrum of issues with immigration that can't
exist in a vacuum. You can't just talk about border security and forget the
rest. You have to do border security, but it has to be combined with other
things. And that was the gist of the conversation.

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me just add one thing to that. The President kind of
walked through where we were in terms of the legislative process, and the
President talked about how he's pleased that it's moving forward. And I
think that President Fox recognized that and expressed appreciation for the
fact that it is moving forward. And the President, as Dan said, reiterated
he is committed to pressing forward with comprehensive reform. We're going
to be working closely with the Senate as they move forward, and hopefully,
then it goes to conference committee, and we'll continue working on it with
members then.

Q Did the President detail his optimism in -- he said he was optimistic
afterwards. I assume he conveyed that --

MR. FISK: The question is about the President expressing his optimism --
and, I'm sorry, specifically regarding which? Immigration legislation?

Q -- that Congress would approve comprehensive -- to Mr. Fox?

MR. FISK: Well, the President did convey that, given the recent action in
the Senate, and again reiterating the point that this is a process,
expressed optimism in the sense of the system -- our system, our process is
working, it's moving forward. And it's moving forward at this point in
terms of a conversation on comprehensive immigration reform. It's no longer
just a conversation or a debate about one slice of that issue, but about
the whole range of issues that need to be addressed. So in that sense, he
did express optimism.

Q How has it changed? A year ago, after a similar meeting at Baylor, he
came out and said that he couldn't assure President Fox that Congress would
act. Today he used the words, "I'm optimistic."

MR. FISK: Well, he used the word "optimistic" and he did not assure -- the
President made it clear --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think maybe he was talking about the timing there -- I
think he was talking about the timing, back then, if I recall. I may be
wrong about, but -- about when it would get done. Obviously, now Congress
is moving forward. And the President expressed how he's pleased that that's
happening. And it's a difficult issue that we're going to continue -- we're
going to have to continue working it with members as it moves forward. But
he was firmly committed to it.

I think you've heard from Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Frist. They
both talked about the importance of having a comprehensive program. But the
President emphasized, too, that it starts with securing our borders. And
that's where Dan touched on that President Fox talked about the steps
they're taking to do that, too.

Q Has the President -- in the last few days, has the President, himself,
been doing any kind of outreach on the Hill, or at what level in the White
House is the outreach going on?

MR. FISK: I'll refer to you, Scott, on that.

MR. McCLELLAN: We're staying in close contact with members. The President,
just yesterday -- well, it was yesterday before he left, I guess, that he
had some House members down and they talked about a number of legislative
priorities. One area they talked about was immigration. So he continues to
talk about it with members in these meetings he's having.

We can -- our legislative team stays in -- is in close contact with
members. I think at this point, we'll see where the Senate goes with it and
then look forward to working with them and addressing some of the details
of it as it moves forward in conference committee.

MR. FISK: Yes, ma'am.

Q You said that President Fox understands that immigration reform is a
mutual relationship and he has responsibilities, too. Did Fox make any
specific assurances about new programs or -- (inaudible) --

MR. FISK: The leaders didn't talk specific programs in that sense. What
President Fox reaffirmed was that they're going to stay on the path that
they have set regarding these areas -- where we do have cooperation. What I
was trying to give you earlier is just be illustrative in terms of what
some of those are.

But that basically was the message from President Fox to President Bush --
was, we've got obligations, we have responsibilities, we're doing things
and we're going to continue to do things; we understand that. We also
understand that -- both leaders understand that there's more that needs to
be done on both sides.

Q There's been some talk that Fox would also -- some kind of incentives,
economic incentives, to try to lure back some of the illegal immigrants
from Mexico -- from the States to Mexico. Was anything else touched upon in
the talks --

MR. FISK: The question is about President Fox raising incentives to -- use
the words, "lure" people back from the United States to Mexico. What was
discussed was -- or one issue that was discussed or one area was what
President Fox has been doing in terms -- economically here overall in
Mexico, in terms of his efforts to create prosperity, create jobs, put in
place economic policies that would be an incentive for people to stay or
return, but it wasn't necessarily put in that term.

He also talked about the need to extend this idea of prosperity and open
markets, and things like job creation and education, not just within
Mexico, but to extend it throughout Central America, because one of the
dynamics is, is actually Central Americans transitting -- coming through
Mexico to get to the United States. So it was talked about in I think a
larger socioeconomic context, of what can be -- what's being done in terms
of economic terms, what needs to be done in terms of education, and how do
you create that kind of environment here so that people can stay. And
that's really how it was framed.

All right, thank you.

END 6:46 P.M. (Local)
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