Unlocking North American Competitiveness 2016
At the third annual North American Process Symposium, federal officials and top executives from the U.S., Mexico and Canada addressed North American competitiveness with a focus on energy and infrastructure. Through a series of working groups and plenary sessions, attendees developed specific recommendations to bolster a more efficient, resourceful and competitive North America.
Discussions in the past two symposia clearly demonstrated that business leads the way in terms of a more integrated and efficient North America. North American business experience can provide guidance, best practices and lessons learned, working towards the development of better government policy.
Steps Toward A Stronger Partnership: A Working Symposium
The School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, the School of Global Studies at the Universidad Anáhuac México Norte, the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions and the Morrison Institute at Arizona State University have come together in an initiative to significantly advance an on-going North American process to strengthen regional relations and competitiveness. This symposium played a key role in the dialogue by bringing together a strong group of business and policy-focused expert participants from the three countries, including representatives from industry, academia and government.
The need for more concerted collaboration and follow-through by Canada, Mexico and the United States to advance the region’s competitiveness was clear. In several gatherings, including the symposia held in 2013 and 2014, general concern was expressed about the need for a stronger trilateral process and more focused institutions to move the North American project forward. This third edition of the symposium discussed and developed in more detail the North American Process as a way to bolster a more efficient, resourceful and competitive North America.
Discussions at the past two symposia made it clear that business is leading the way in terms of a more integrated and efficient North America. A key part of this symposium was a focus on where the challenges and successes of specific North American businesses offered valuable insight. These combined insights contributed to the development of recommendations on the first incremental steps forward in designing and building, as a longer-term goal, a strong, practical and overarching North American Process.
Through a series of working groups and plenary sessions, attendees developed specific recommendations on the topic at hand. The working groups focused on the North American energy sector, transportation infrastructure and supply chain security. This event, in addition to being a distinctive trilateral initiative, moved beyond “talking” to drafting concrete, specific and realistic recommendations on ways to recharge the North American vision, in order to be presented to the respective North American leaders in Canada, Mexico and the United States.