Canadians, Americans, and Mexicans share the same continent and the same values. We face many of the same challenges, and we are all better off when we tackle these issues together.

As North American partners, our countries have a mutual interest to work together to promote development, economic growth, and security – both within our continent, and beyond it.

Moving forward, our countries will aim to translate our shared values into common efforts to resolve pressing regional and global issues. As part of this commitment to increasing concrete cooperation, we share information and identify joint priorities to guide our engagement with regional and international institutions.

North American Caucus

Canada, Mexico, and the United States have agreed to enhance cooperation on regional and global priorities by establishing a consultation mechanism that will meet twice a year. This mechanism will support regular meetings of the North American Foreign Ministers and other annual multilateral policy dialogues. It will also encourage collaboration on emerging political developments and security concerns, as well as promote cooperation on regional energy security, climate change, environmental issues, economic competitiveness, and citizen security and health.

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Canada, Mexico, and the United States reaffirm our support for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, recognize the universal, integrated and indivisible character of the Sustainable Development Goals, and commit to leaving no one behind. We have agreed to work together to support full implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Addressing Challenges in Central America and the Caribbean

Canada, Mexico and the United States are working to respond to irregular migration and to ensure the protection and empowerment of children and adolescents in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. This will include addressing some of the root causes of migration, such as limited economic opportunities, poor education and health care services, and growing insecurity and gang violence. Canada has committed $12.5 million to help advance the agroforestry industry in Honduras, as well as $9.5 million to support the agri-food sector in Nicaragua. Since 2008, Mexico has actively led the Mesoamerican Integration and Development Project, which focuses on regional integration, health, the protection of the environment, and food security. The United States plans to commit US$750 million in Central America to reverse endemic violence and poverty, crack down on criminal networks, corruption, and impunity, strengthen good governance and the rule of law, and promote economic prosperity.

In addition, the leaders reaffirmed North America’s shared commitment to support efforts in the fight against corruption and impunity in Central America. To that end, Canada will provide $5 million to the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH), and a further $4 million to International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). By next year, the United States anticipates providing US$5.2 million for MACCIH and US$7.5 million for CICIG. Mexico is contributing technical assistance to MACCIH.

Canada is contributing $13 million to support climate smart agriculture development in Central America. The United States will contribute US$4.5 million and seeks to provide additional support. Mexico is also seeking to provide funding to support climate smart agriculture projects, particularly in the Central American Dry Corridor, in 2017. Canada is committing a further $3 million to strengthening health sector resilience and disaster risk management in the Caribbean, a region especially vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters.

In the Caribbean – and in line with the U.S. Caribbean Energy Security Initiative – Canada is committing $12.2 million in support of efforts to move toward cleaner and more sustainable energy sources. Canada will work with regional development banks and microfinance institutes to support the clean energy sector. Together with Central America, Mexico announced the launch of an Interconnection Commission to explore opportunities for expanding electricity trade and integration, and the United States has allocated US$2 million for its Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and Strategy.

Working together in the Americas

Working with our partners and through important multilateral institutions like the Organization of American States, Canada, Mexico and the United States can help protect human rights, strengthen democratic institutions, and increase security in the region.

Canada calls on Venezuela to fully respect fundamental rights, democratic processes, freedoms and the rule of law, and to establish conditions that allow for dialogue between the government and its citizens in order for them to find a peaceful means of resolving the country’s increasingly acute economic and political crisis, while respecting the will of the people and their right to employ constitutional mechanisms – including the recall referendum. We call on the Venezuelan executive branch and the National Assembly to work urgently together to this end and to ensure that their democratic institutions and processes are fully respected, so that national reconciliation can be achieved while respecting Venezuela’s sovereignty, human rights and the release of the political prisoners.

After more than 50 years of internal armed conflict, Colombia is making significant progress on the path towards peace, including having recently signed a ceasefire agreement on June 23 with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Canada, Mexico and the United States have all been involved in helping to build the conditions for peace and are ready to support Colombia in the implementation of a future peace agreement. Along with the European Union and 22 other countries, Canada and Mexico have joined the Global Demining Initiative for Colombia led by the United States and Norway. The United States is providing USD$33 million for this initiative. Canada, Mexico and the United States strongly support the mandate of the United Nations Special Political Mission which will be deployed to Colombia to monitor and verify a definitive bilateral ceasefire, the cessation of hostilities, and the laying down of arms. Mexico has recently announced that it will send observers for the UN Mission following the signature of a final peace agreement. Canada will support initiatives directly responsive to the Government of Colombia’s priorities for peace implementation.

We have been following closely the political crisis in Haiti and regret the absence of a democratically elected President since February 7, 2016. Canada, Mexico and the United States call on Haiti to hold peaceful, transparent, and credible elections without further delays, so as to return Haiti to constitutional order. Recognizing that Haitians are facing enormous economic and humanitarian challenges and that the Haitian people need to be able to rely on leaders who are elected and accountable, we underscore that the Haitian people deserve to have their voices heard through a democratically-elected President.

Support for Universal Human Rights

Canada, Mexico and the United States will continue to work together – at home, in North America, and in international institutions – to advance pluralism, ensure respect for diversity, and uphold universal human rights. As gender equality is integral to this commitment, the leaders encourage other members of the Equal Futures Partnership, to ensure that women fully participate in leadership positions and benefit from economic security.

Appalled and saddened by the recent events in Orlando, Canada, Mexico and the United States call on all members of the international community to ensure full respect for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and intersex persons. As 2016 Pride celebrations kick off across North America, the leaders reaffirmed their solidarity with LGBTQ2 communities, and confirm their unequivocal support for the establishment of an independent expert at the United Nations on preventing violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Canada and the U.S. will increase cooperation among their diplomatic embassies to support the decriminalization of same-sex conduct, to work with grassroots LGBTQ2 organizations, and to help combat violence and discrimination that target individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Inter-American Human Rights System plays a critical role in promoting and defending the human rights and dignity of all persons in the Americas. Canada, Mexico and the United States, together, provide approximately three quarters of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ (IACHR) budget. However, the three leaders call on other regional partners to increase support to the IACHR to ensure that the independence, integrity and effectiveness of this institution can continue.

Empowering Women and Girls

All three countries are committed to helping adolescent girls around the world attend and complete school – through various programs such as the United States’ Let Girls Learn initiative or the Global Partnership for Education.  

Indigenous women and girls in all three countries endure alarmingly high levels of violence. Representatives from all three countries will meet in Washington, D.C., in October 2016 to inaugurate the North American Working Group on Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls. This working group will:

• exchange knowledge of comprehensive policies, programs and best practices to prevent and respond to violence against indigenous women and girls through increased access to justice and health services, with a human rights and multicultural approach;
• enhance cooperation to address violent crimes against indigenous women and girls, residing on or off their Tribal, First Nations, and Indigenous lands, and to reduce human trafficking of Indigenous women and girls across North American borders.
• enhance the response of all three countries’ justice, education, and child welfare systems to violence against Indigenous women and girls; and
• strengthen the capacity of health systems to provide culturally-responsive victim services.  

Girls also face sexual-and-gender-based violence and harmful practices such as child, early and forced marriage including through informal unions. In alignment with the 2030 Agenda targets on violence against children, Canada and the United States are collaborating through the Together for Girls Partnership and the new Global Partnership to End Violence against Children. They will work with Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to develop a regional plan of action on preventing and responding to violence against children.

Canada is committing $32.3 million aimed at preventing irregular child migration and supporting child protection in the region. This includes $19.5 million to support child protection and juvenile justice reform in Honduras, and $12.8 million to prevent irregular child migration in Central America. Mexico and the United States will also support, this fall, the UN General Assembly resolution co-led by Canada and Zambia on ending child, early and forced marriage. They undertake to reach out to other countries, including to partners in the Americas.

Refugees and Migration

The plight of refugees and asylum seekers is a top humanitarian concern for our three countries, and each is committed to finding new ways to increase cooperation on this pressing issue. Canada and Mexico look forward to co-hosting, along with other partners, President Obama’s Leaders’ Summit on Refugees in September.

The three countries will provide a combined US$10 million of financial support through the United Nations Refugee Agency to increase capacity building for Central America, to help improve conditions and to promote well-managed migration. Canada, the United States and Mexico will explore opportunities to pursue other initiatives to enhance security and reinforce the integrity of each country’s immigration systems, including improving the use of biometrics technology in border and immigration applications.

Addressing Global Public Health Issues

Canada, Mexico, and the United States have long recognized the threats posed by chronic and infectious diseases to national, regional and global health, and consequently the benefit of working together to address shared health challenges. 

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Canada, Mexico and the United States share the goal of ending AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria epidemics by 2030. Recognizing the Global Fund’s leading role in achieving this goal, Canada commits to ensuring a successful 5th replenishment conference in Montreal in September. Canada is pleased to host this important event, and will pledge $785 million, for 2017 to 2019, representing a 20 per cent increase from its previous pledge.

Infectious Diseases

The leaders reinforced their commitment to strengthen the health security of North American citizens by continuing to implement the North American Plan for Animal and Pandemic Influenza, and by leveraging successful, cross-sectoral collaboration to address the public health threat of vector-borne diseases, such as Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika.

The International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) are the cornerstone of global health security, and provide a common framework to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to addressing public health risks with the potential for international impact. Building on previous commitments, Canada, Mexico and the United States will work together with the Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization to support the implementation of the IHR in the Americas region by continuing to provide expert technical assistance to strengthen and maintain IHR core capacities and advance countries planning to undertake Joint External Evaluations (JEE). As part of leadership in the Americas on this effort, Canada and the United States have committed to undergo a JEE themselves and to support the Alliance for Country Assessments for Global Health Security and Implementation of the International Health Regulations. The U.S. recently completed its own JEE and intends to make the results public on GHSAgenda.org. Canada plans to undertake a JEE in 2018.

Childhood Obesity and Healthy Living

Canada, Mexico and the United States all face a childhood obesity epidemic. Leaders agreed to continue trilateral efforts to prevent childhood obesity and promote healthy living.

Global Cyber Issues

Canada, Mexico, and the United States affirm the importance of an open, interoperable, resilient, and secure Internet, underpinned by the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance for collective prosperity, security, and commitment to democracy and human rights. The leaders emphasized that everyone should enjoy the same human rights online as well as offline. All three countries commit to continuing our foreign ministry-led Trilateral Cyber Experts Group to strengthen online cooperation, and look forward to the Internet Governance Forum and the Meridian Conference on Critical Information Infrastructure Protection, which Mexico will be hosting in 2016.

Canada and the United States support the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime as the best instrument to fight cybercrime at the international level. The two countries, along with Mexico, commit to enhancing cyber collaboration through capacity building efforts. In this regard, the three have partnered on an initiative to strengthen regional participation in the G7 24/7 Network, which connects national law enforcement points of contact in the battle against high-tech crime. Canada, the United States and Mexico will work together to promote cyber security awareness globally by coordinating our national activities, including Canada’s Get Cyber Safe campaign, the Stop. Think. Connect. Coalition, and the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise.

All three countries commit to promoting stability in cyberspace based on the applicability of international law, voluntary norms of responsible state behaviour during peacetime, and practical confidence-building measures between states. The leaders affirmed that no country conduct or knowingly support online activity that intentionally damages critical infrastructure or otherwise impairs the use of it to provide services to the public; that no country should conduct or knowingly support activity intended to prevent national computer security incident response teams from responding to cyber incidents, or use its own teams to enable online activity that is intended to do harm; that every country should cooperate, consistent with its domestic laws and international obligations, with requests for assistance from other states in mitigating malicious cyber activity emanating from its territory; and that no country should conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to its companies or commercial sectors. Canada, Mexico and the United States will work together in the 2016/2017 UN Group of Governmental Experts, the G20, and the Organization of American States in support of these objectives.

Open and transparent government

The world is witnessing a global transformation, fuelled by citizens’ desire to better understand how their governments make decisions and develop policy. This global, open government movement is essential to promoting the rule of law, reducing corruption, and promoting the development of effective and accountable public institutions. The three countries will collaborate to promote the principles reflected in the international Open Data Charter, that data be open by default, timely and comprehensive, accessible and usable, and comparable and interoperable, as guidelines to harness the power of open government data for improved governance, citizen engagement, and inclusive development and innovation. As members of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), Canada, the United States and Mexico will continue to promote the principles of openness, transparency, and accountability worldwide and to ensure that OGP serves as a stronger tool for generating results at the local level, promoting access to justice, and strengthening government accountability in OGP member countries in the Americas.