Ideally, the North American Leaders Summit, recently concluded in Guadalajara, and the upcoming Border Governors Conference in Monterrey this week are but complementary halves (or, more accurately, quarters) of a “whole of government” solution to North American issues: the Summit envisions and sets a top-level priority list and Conference implements specific, local and customized solutions to a number of challenges.

Local Solutions are Often Better Solutions

Two articles from last week on our neighbors' diverging economic situations:

Hermosillo's El Imparcial reported that this could be Mexico's worst recession since the Great Depression, while The Globe and Mail reports that employment is looking up in Canada while U.S. employment numbers continue to look bad.

And then a very interesting article in yesterday's New York Times about Mexico's shift on drug policy.

“North America Next: A Report to President Obama on Building Sustainable Security and Competitiveness" was released on Tuesday, Feb. 10 by the North American Center for Transborder Studies (NACTS) at Arizona State University at an official “Newsmaker" event hosted by the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The report represents more than a year of consultations by NACTS' consortium of leading experts and universities in the three countries and covers major tri-national challenges including border security, trade, energy, labor/migration, transportation and infrastructure and environmental protection.

The report was presented at the Newsmakers event by NACTS Director Rick Van Schoik, with commentary provided by Roberta Jacobson, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Canada, Mexico and NAFTA; Mexican Embassy Head of Economic Affairs Antonio Ortiz Mena; and Colin Robertson, a senior Canadian diplomat currently directing the Canada-US project at Carleton University in Ottawa.