President George W. Bush is surrounded by leaders from the Western Hemisphere as he delivers a statement on free trade Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008, at the Council of the Americas in New York City.

New York — Today, the leaders of 12 Western Hemisphere countries met in New York to launch the Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas initiative, which will provide a forum to work together to ensure the benefits of trade are broadly shared throughout societies, deepen the connections among regional markets, and expand cooperation on development issues.

In his remarks, President Bush stressed the importance of congressional approval of the pending free trade agreements and of Western Hemisphere nations' working together to reach a successful Doha Round agreement as soon as possible.

Following is a transcript of Bush's remarks:

(begin transcript)

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(New York, New York)
September 24, 2008

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON FREE TRADE
WITH WESTERN HEMISPHERE LEADERS

Council of the Americas
New York, New York
8:01 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Listen, thank you all very much for being here. I'm joined by leaders throughout our hemisphere to discuss trade and prosperity. I know they're going to want to hear about the rescue plan that we have submitted to the Congress. They can see our legislative process is full of give-and-take, that there's ample debate, but I am confident that when it's all said and done, there will be a robust plan. And there needs to be.

Each of the 11 countries here has a free trade agreement with the United States, or one pending before Congress. Free and fair trade is in our mutual interests.

What's interesting about free and fair trade amongst the nations is that the people benefit. For example, the Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement is in its early stages, but trade between participating countries with the United States is up 23 percent. That translates to jobs and prosperity. In the five years since the free trade agreement between the United States and Chile took effect, trade between our two nations has increased by more than 180 percent. And that's positive. In other words, these agreements are mutually benefit. And most importantly, they help small business owners and workers and farmers and ranchers.

In the nearly 15 years since NAFTA entered into force, trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico has increased by a combined total of more than 200 percent.

Today our countries are launching the Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas Initiative to continue this progress. This initiative will provide a forum where leaders can work to ensure that the benefits of trade are broadly shared. It will deepen the connections among regional markets. It will expand our cooperation on development issues. This is a very promising initiative, and I expect positive results when our representatives meet on these issues later this year.

It's important for the American people to understand that exports benefit workers. Half of our growth last year was the result of trade. And therefore, it's in our interest to continue to open up markets, particularly in our own neighborhood. There are three free trade agreements pending in the Congress today: South Korea, Panama and Colombia. Obviously, two of those are with nations in our own hemisphere. The Colombia free trade agreement will be good for Colombia; it will be good for America. The President and I have worked diligently to make sure this is a fair agreement, and Congress needs to pass it.

The Panamanian agreement is good for Panama, it's good for America, and Congress ought to pass that agreement, too. It's important that these agreements be passed as soon as possible.

I want to thank the leaders for joining us. I'm looking forward to our discussion. I appreciate your hard work in working to make sure your people and your countries have great opportunities. One such opportunity is access to jobs provided by markets.

Thank you for your vision, and thank you for your leadership. Thank you.

END 8:05 A.M. EDT

(end transcript)

Communiqué on Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas

1. We, the Heads of Government and representatives for Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru and the United States, met in New York on September 24, 2008, to take stock of the significant progress we have made in our hemisphere through shared commitments to trade and investment liberalization, social inclusion, development, rule of law, and democracy. We noted that we have each taken steps to conclude and bring into force comprehensive and high-quality free trade agreements that have contributed significantly to reducing poverty, opening our economies, and strengthening our democracies.

2. Our discussion today focused on our region's ability to achieve and sustain broad-based economic growth and development. We recognized that our region has experienced significant progress in the last few years by implementing public policies that promote growth and social development. We acknowledged that macro-economic stability and trade liberalization are important tools in the fight against poverty, noted existing challenges to economic growth, and affirmed that certain sectors of our populations should benefit more fully from open markets and free trade. We support further efforts to advance social justice and welfare in the hemisphere.

3. We underscored the importance of comprehensive free trade agreements in advancing liberalized trade and investment regimes, thereby providing new economic opportunities for all in our societies, including workers, businesspeople, and agricultural communities. We affirmed our commitment to conclude an ambitious agreement in the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations, to the long-term goals of free trade in the hemisphere and a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) and to continue to pursue other efforts to promote economic integration in the hemisphere, including through the Summit of the Americas process, the Latin America Pacific Arc Initiative, the Central American Economic Integration process, and the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership. At the same time, we are supportive of bilateral efforts to approve and implement comprehensive, high-standard free trade agreements that promote and extend free trade, including the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement and the United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement and others we are currently negotiating or in the process of approving. We applaud Costa Rica's efforts to complete the steps necessary for entry into force of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement as soon as possible.

4. We also recognize that, to fully realize the benefits of trade liberalization and open markets, we must promote, integrate, and advance all aspects of our hemispheric economic and development agenda. We support increased efforts to deepen our partnership and cooperation to ensure that the benefits of free trade and open investment are more broadly shared throughout our societies.

5. To achieve this goal, complement economic cooperation and integration initiatives, and promote convergence of free trade efforts, we will work jointly to: (1) increase opportunities for our citizens, particularly small businesses and farmers, to take advantage of trade through trade capacity building and other initiatives; (2) promote and deepen an open architecture for regional trade consistent with the global trading system; (3) expand regional cooperation on economic development and competitiveness; (4) enhance cooperation and exchange best practices on labor and environmental standards and enforcement; and (5) engage the private sector and civil society to advance these objectives, including through promotion of public-private partnerships.

6. This initiative is open to all countries, as participants or observers, in the Western Hemisphere that share our commitment to democracy, open markets and free trade.

7. We plan to meet at the ministerial level before the end of this year and regularly thereafter to develop an agenda to advance these objectives and determine next steps. We also look forward to reconvening in 2009 to review the progress made by our ministers.

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