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Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs Jeffrey Davidow, Mexican Foreign Minister Gurria; et al Remarks at Treaty-Signing Ceremony Washington, DC, November 13, 1997

Assistant Secretary Davidow: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Jeffrey Davidow. I'm Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs at the Department of State.

We are here today to participate in the signing and witnessing the signing of four very important documents. The first is the exchange of instruments for ratification for a maritime boundary treaty between the United States and Mexico; secondly, a protocol to the bilateral extradition treaty. Thirdly, we are going to exchange and present the executive summary of the joint counter-narcotics strategy of the two countries; and finally, a memorandum of intent on increasing environmental trade.

We are fortunate to be joined today by distinguished members of the United States and Mexican Governments: Secretary of Foreign Affairs for Mexico, Dr. Angel Gurria; the Attorney General, Jorge Madrazo; the Secretary of Training and Industrial Development, Mr. Herminio Blanco; and Mexico's newly arrived and very welcomed Ambassador to the United States, Jesus Reyes Heroles.

I also wish to acknowledge the presence here of several members of the President's Cabinet: Janet Reno, Attorney General; William Daley, Secretary of Commerce; Barry McCaffery, Director of the President's Office of Drug Control Policy; and Mack McLarty, the President's Special Envoy to the Americas.

Before we begin our signing, I do want to make a special note. I do wish to present to Dr. Gurria and to the other Mexican officials the regrets of the Secretary of State, Madame Albright. I think you will understand that the urgencies of the day, which I will not further mention, and her imminent departure this evening have called her away to other events. She feels very strongly about our relationship with Mexico, and she regrets deeply that she could not be here right at this moment.

I also should note that part-way through the ceremony, Dr. Gurria has to leave to go to a meeting at the Organization of American States, where he will be afforded the honor of being elected as chairman of that organization's meeting for today and tomorrow. And tomorrow, he will be in the chair when Presidents Zedillo and Clinton come to the Organization of American States to add their signatures to a new agreement on the illicit transportation of arms in the hemisphere.

So we have a great many events this afternoon. With your permission, I am going to now sit down with Dr. Gurria and sign an exchange of instruments of ratification of a maritime boundary. By way of explanation, after exchanging notes in 1976, the U.S. and Mexico signed a treaty in 1978 to establish the maritime boundaries in the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Mexico ratified the treaty in 1979; but the United States ratification was deferred. Fortunately, the Senate of the United States provided advice and consent to ratification on October 23 of this year.

The treaty enters into force with this exchange of instruments of ratification. I will now sign the treaty, and the Dr. Gurria will make some remarks, to be followed by the Special Envoy of the President, Mr. Mack McLarty.

Dr. Gurria (In Spanish through an interpreter.): Members of the delegations of the U.S. and Mexico, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, we would like to wish Mrs. Albright all success in the very delicate task at hand. The entire world is enormously interested in her success. And we wish to express the deep satisfaction of the Government of Mexico that finally, after 20 years, we have exchanged the instruments of ratification for the Maritime Boundary Treaty, first signed in 1978.

This is one of the most politically important moments in the history of both our countries because we have now established the boundary not simply of our territorial waters, but also of our patrimonial waters. And we now have the legal certainty of exactly what these are.

I want to express a special word of thanks to Mr. Jeffrey Davidow for his personal efforts in obtaining Senate ratification for this instrument. Today, as Mr. Davidow has said, we are going to be signing several instruments which show merely some of the aspects of the very rich relationship our countries share. Just as Presidents Clinton and Zedillo will only be able to deal with some of the aspects of our bilateral relationship. But that is the thrust of precisely being able now to enjoy a number of official working visits, and not merely waiting for the state visits which can only happen seldom.

Nonetheless, I wanted to highlight the fact that today is the first day in which we are going to be enjoying the fruits of a very special binational effort. So I wanted to take advantage of this very special setting to present it to all of you. We have been working together on matters pertaining to trade; on our fight against drugs; we have been working together for the environment. But in the last two and a half years, we have also been working to develop our first binational study on migration. It is now ready, and we will now be able to move forward in this very important task for both our nations.

It's almost as big as Mr. Davidow.

(Laughter and applause.)

And I wanted to tell you, don't worry, please; we will make sure each of you gets a copy of the executive summary in both languages. Thank you very much.

Assistant Secretary Davidow: I can assure you I'll read each one of those books tonight, Dr. Gurria. It is now my great pleasure to introduce Mr. Mack McLarty, the President's Special Envoy to the Americas, who will respond to Dr. Gurria's fine comments.

Mr. McLarty: Good afternoon. Buenos tardes. I am very pleased to be here to participate in this important ceremony, representing Secretary Albright; with Foreign Minister Gurria, my good friend; Attorney Generals Reno and Madrazo; Secretaries Daley and Blanco; General McCaffery; and Assistant Secretary Davidow.

To paraphrase our wonderful poet Robert Frost, clear boundaries make good neighbors. Today the United States and Mexico have become even better neighbors, as we exchange instruments of ratification that bring into force the 1978 U.S.-Mexico Maritime Boundary Treaty.

I am pleased we were able to obtain the advice and consent of the Senate, the ratification of this treaty last month, as Minister Gurria noted.

The treaty's entry into force today provides real and tangible benefits. Now in the boundary areas of the deep Gulf, the United States' and Mexico's companies alike can plan with confidence, with certainty, for the development of energy and maritime resources in years to come.

Today's ceremony and the signing by our two respective Secretaries of State and Foreign Ministers also paves the way for the negotiation of a new treaty to define the portion of our maritime boundary that is the so-called "doughnut hole;" that is, the gap that remains between the two segments of the existing boundary. I hope and trust we can begin this essential work promptly.

I am also pleased that the United States and Mexico are continuing to collaborate on land border issues, as well as the maritime boundaries. Carrying out the commitment of our two Presidents in May, we are working together to advance our vision of a common land border. We look forward to reviewing the results of the first phase of the border vision project, when the binational commission meets in Washington next year.

And finally, reflecting our common interest in a safe and orderly border, Minister Gurria and Secretary Albright have attached their names this week to the foreword of the U.S.-Mexico binational study on migration that Mr. Gurria outlined in his remarks.

We hope and believe this study will contribute in a very significant way to our ability to address that issue in a spirit of cooperation, and to the mutual benefit of our respective peoples.

Assistant Secretary Davidow: I would like to now invite the Attorney General, Janet Reno, and Attorney General of Mexico, Jorge Madrazo, to come to the table and to sign the protocol to our extradition treaty, which will allow the temporary surrender of persons for trial in one country, when that person is sentenced and serving a prison sentence in the other country. Such temporary surrender provisions have become standard in U.S. bilateral extradition treaties. This will allow criminals to be tried at a time and a place near the commission of their crime, even though they are serving prison sentences in the other country.

[The protocol is signed.]

Assistant Secretary Davidow: Attorney General Madrazo will now address you.

Attorney General Madrazo: (In Spanish through an interpreter.) Distinguished officials of the U.S. Government, Attorney General Reno. It has been an enormous privilege for me to sign, on behalf of the government of Mexico, the protocol to the extradition treaty with the United States. We hope that the Senates of both the United States and Mexico will ratify an instrument that we know will give us the possibility to fight impunity in both of our countries. This protocol is the result of the legal imagination and the political will of the representatives of both countries. We should recall that the first time this instrument was mentioned as a possibility was only this year, when President Clinton visited Mexico. Extradition is a way to make sure that justice is done. It is a way to enforce basic rights. It is a way in which to fight crime. We hope this instrument is enforced soon. We hope it is, in order to do what is right for justice for Mexico and for the United States. Thank you very much.

Assistant Secretary Davidow: It is now my very great pleasure and honor to introduce Attorney General Reno.

Attorney General Reno: We have signed today an important protocol in our bilateral extradition treaty that will authorize the temporary extradition of fugitives, and ensure that criminals who are engaged in illegal activities on both sides of our common border will not escape justice in either country.

Under the protocol, these individuals will no longer be able to flee from prosecution in one country, perpetrate crimes in the other, and then sit back contentedly in jail, knowing by the time they are extradited for their original offenses, the cases against them will be stale and unwinnable.

The protocol is a major step forward for both Mexico and the United States in dealing with persistent and dangerous offenders who know no boundaries for their crimes, and who try to use legal loopholes to their own advantage.

But beyond the significance of its substance, I believe that the protocol is equally newsworthy as a tangible example of the cooperative and the affirmative spirit that now characterizes our bilateral relationship.

Together we have identified a problem in the extradition process. Together we have worked to resolve it in a way that suits and strengthens both of our legal systems. And together we have passed a treaty protocol that ensures that justice can be fully and fairly served.

As I have often stated before, I think there are few, if any, problems we cannot solve when we join forces in this way, with mutual respect, with common commitment, and with dedicated effort.

I'm proud of this achievement; proud to have signed the protocol on behalf of the United States; and proud to be a part of the very vibrant, the very challenging relationship between out governments.
Thank you.

Assistant Secretary Davidow: The choreography to this event is somewhat complicated, as you can imagine. At this time, I'd like to ask Attorney General Madrazo to come back to the table, and be joined there by General Barry McCaffery.

These two distinguished gentlemen will be presenting the executive summary of our joint binational counter-narcotics strategy.

By way of background, let me explain that at the Mexico City meeting in May, Presidents Clinton and Zedillo directed the preparation of a joint strategy to achieve 16 specific counter-narcotics objectives. The executive summary, which will be presented today describes the basic elements that will be included in the completed strategy. While the strategy itself is still under elaboration, we expect it will be completed within in the next few weeks.

At this point, I would like to ask General McCaffery if he would say a few words.

General McCaffery: Well, let me very briefly express my own pride and satisfaction in what we have accomplished today on creating the U.S.-Mexico drug control strategy.

It is our intention to complete this task by the end of the year. As many of you are probably aware, we began our common task on May 6, 1997, when we agreed to a joint threat assessment. We thought it was a first-rate document. It was 97 pages of specific guidance, which allowed us to see the drug threat from a common viewpoint. We understood that predominantly we faced the U.S. demand threat, that production and trafficking took place in both countries, and that we were adamant we would have to deal directly with the notion of money laundering, violence, corruption and chemical diversion.

As you're aware, our two Presidents signed a declaration of alliance and instructed us to build a common strategy, based on 16 specific areas. And we are well on a route to doing just that.

Attorney General Madrazo, Secretary Gurria and I and others are quite proud to present you with a summary of where we are today. We plan on having this done prior to the end of the year.

Now, that will not be the end, but the beginning. I speak, really, with enormous gratitude for the cooperation not only of Mexican authorities, but for the sense of partnership between the two teams--our Attorney General Reno, Secretary Rubin, Secretary Cohen, Secretary Albright and others who have seen this as an essential aspect to confront a common threat to the children of our two nations.

Our next step will be to begin to build performance measures of effectiveness so we can operationalize this strategy. So let me, if I may, end by congratulating our Mexican colleagues and thanking them for their partnership; and to underscore that from the beginning, we saw this effort as having been based on a common axiom that only the laws, the police, the prosecutors, the judges, the armed forces of a country would have any effect on their own sovereign territory. Based on this mutual note of respect, we think we are well on the way to confronting this terrible international criminal threat and the demand coefficient on both sides of the border.

Thank you, again, Mr. Attorney General, for our partnership.

Assistant Secretary Davidow: Mr. Attorney General, would you please make some further remarks?

Attorney General Madrazo: (In Spanish through an interpreter.) As General McCaffery stated, we are extremely pleased with the results in the preparation of this instrument that we have just signed. On May 6 of this year, Presidents Zedillo and Clinton gave us a very precise and clear instruction on what this common strategy had to contain. And based on the 16 major objectives set forth and the alliance established by our two Presidents, we have matched them with the specific goals each of them must attain. And we can assure everyone that the goals set forth for each of these objectives respect the sovereignty of each nation, their territorial jurisdictions, balanced sets of actions in each case, and respect for the rule of law in each country.

I am sure that the strategy and the plan of action for the strategy, which will be ready by the end of the year and be published in early 1998, will be an important instrument in the struggle of both countries against drugs. Our common struggle is for the children, for the youth and for the communities of both our nations. I am sure that soon we will see many and much better results in our common struggle. Thank you very much.

Assistant Secretary Davidow: Thank you, gentlemen. I'd like to invite now Secretary of Trade and Industrial Development Blanco and Secretary of Commerce Daley, to take their places at the table, where they will sign a memorandum of intent on environmental trade cooperation.

This Administration has made environmental technologies and their export a high priority. This memorandum of intent will enhance commercial cooperation between the Department of Commerce and the Mexican Secretariat of Trade and Industrial Development.

One of the first commercial activities to be organized under the new agreement will be a conference and trade exhibition to be held in Mexico City next January.

[The memorandum of intent is signed]

Assistant Secretary Davidow: Secretary Blanco, would you say a few words?

Secretary Blanco: (In Spanish through an interpreter.) Distinguished members of the U.S. and Mexico delegations, ladies and gentlemen. I've always been convinced that trade and the environment are two elements that actually complement each other. And I'd like to very briefly discuss three ways in which this complementation is carried out.

First of all, trade--above all, free trade, as we have established among Canada, Mexico and the United States--has increased the levels of trade among our countries significantly. And this increase in trade leads to an increasing growth. We've already seen that in the increase of jobs and resources in our countries. And the increase in resources allows our governments to use them in order to improve the protection of our environment. That is the first way in which trade complements the environment. But the second way is, investment through free trade. In Mexico, the increase in investment since the implementation of NAFTA has been very important. We must underscore the investment that has been taking place in plants throughout Mexico. We see more production, more effectiveness in that sense. We see greater competition. But the most important thing is the increase in investment in technology; and this in turn leads to the possibility to better protect the environment. And unlike what the opponents of free trade had been saying before NAFTA, the new investment that we have seen taking place in Mexico is investment that has been made with environment-friendly technologies; in other words, technologies which are clean.

And third, the way we see trade and the environment complementing each other is the very good relationship that this agreement--our free trade agreement--has generated among the officials of both our governments who deal with trade. Very specially, the Department of Commerce of the United States and the Secretariat of Trade and Industrial Development in Mexico; especially with my good friend, Secretary Daley. And this good relationship has led to the memorandum that we are signing today. This has allowed us to increase trade and goods to protect the environment, but it has also promoted a number of fairs and exhibitions and also an increase in technology that we see--technology that is environment-friendly and clean.

We've also seen a great increase in the flow of investment into Mexico, but also the investment of Mexican companies and U.S. companies, which are now able to invest elsewhere on the continent.

For these reasons, the memo is going to be an effective instrument to promote our industry and also to protect the environment in both our countries. We will soon be seeing the results of this instrument, and we will be seeing an increase of jobs. But we will also be seeing the development of the important industry of goods for protection of the environment in both our countries. Thank you very much.

Assistant Secretary Davidow: Secretary Daley.

Secretary Daley: Thank you very much, Ambassador. I am indeed honored to be here with my colleagues from President Clinton's cabinet joining our counterparts from President Zedillo's cabinet. (Inaudible.)

I'm also extremely proud and honored to be back with my friend Herminio Blanco, to sign this memorandum of intent on environmental-commercial cooperation.

This memorandum provides the framework which we need to build a stronger public-private partnership with Mexico in the environmental technology sector. With this memorandum, we hope to zero in on specific commercial activities that will enhance the cooperation in this most important sector, such as information dissemination and trade promotion and also training.

For example, we're currently planning the first of what we hope will be a series of business seminars which focus on solutions for industrial waste. The first which we will target will be the leather, the cement and also the metal industries.

Also the Department of Commerce will be working with the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce in its "Access Mexico" project. This project is aimed at developing electronic databases of Mexico's environmental laws and regulations in English for the use of U.S. companies.

For many reasons, our NAFTA partnership, our shared natural resources along our border and a large Mexican market for environmental goods and services for protection of the Mexican environment is a priority to the United States. And the private sector's role in pursuing our mutual goal of sound environmental stewardship is absolutely critical.

So I'm especially pleased to be joined today by some of the key industry representatives. I want to recognize Don Deieso, who is the Chairman of the Commerce Department's Environmental Technology Advisory Board; and also Ambassador William Pryce, of the Council of the Americas; along with Al Zapanta of the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce.

We do look forward to implementing this memorandum in partnership with Secretary Blanco and his agency, as well as the U.S. and Mexican private sectors. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce Anne Alonzo has been a persistent advocate in this area, and will take the lead for us on advocating the goals and the spirit of this agreement.

This is living proof that the robust economy and a clean environment are complementary. They are not conflicting policies.

Today, through commercial cooperation, we have the opportunity to do well by doing good in the direction of Mexico's environmental priorities, while developing business opportunities for companies on both sides of our borders. Thank you very much.

Assistant Secretary Davidow: These four agreements once again demonstrate the complexity, the essentiality, the friendliness in what is the most extraordinary bilateral relationship the United States has.

We thank you all for coming today to this ceremony.

[end of document]

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