'NAFTA-Plus' Talks Aim For Security Pact

The trinational task force, which has the full backing of the three governments, has been charged with creating a road map toward a continent-wide customs-free zone with a common approach to trade, energy, immigration, law enforcement and security that would virtually eliminate existing national borders. John Manley, the former Liberal deputy prime minister, will co-chair the task force and be joined on the panel by William Weld, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, and Pedro Aspe, a former Mexican finance minister. The task force will report to the prestigious U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, and received the blessing of Anne McLellan, Canada's Public Safety Minister, and Tom Ridge, the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary, during a meeting in Ottawa this week...." http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=cfac5878-d471-4e58-9e9d-8775291a5b8c&rfp=dta "October 15, 2004--The Council has launched an independent task force on the future of North America to examine regional integration since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement ten years ago. The task force will identify inadequacies in the current arrangements and suggest opportunities for deeper cooperation on areas of common interest. Unlike other Council-sponsored task forces, which focus primarily on U.S. policy, this initiative includes participants from Canada and Mexico, as well as the United States, and will make policy recommendations for all three countries. The task force will review five spheres of policy in which greater cooperation may be needed. They are: deepening economic integration; reducing the development gap; harmonizing regulatory policy; enhancing security; and devising better institutions to manage conflicts that inevitably arise from integration and exploit opportunities for collaboration...." http://www.cfr.org/pub7454/press_release/council_joins_leading_canadians_and_mexicans_to_launch_independent_task_force_on_the_future_of_north_america.php