Obama to host North American summit in Hawaii

US President Barack Obama (R) shakes hands
with Mexican President Felipe Calderón
© AFP/File Mandel Ngan

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama will host a North American Leaders’ summit for his counterparts from Canada and Mexico next month in his native Hawaii, the White House said Friday.

Obama will hold the event on November 13 when he is in Hawaii to also host the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit.

His talks with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Honolulu will focus on “competitiveness, citizen security, energy and climate change, and North America’s role in the Americas as well as in global economic, political, and security issues,” the White House said.

Calderon hosted the last such summit for the three nations, all members of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in Guadalajara two years ago.

Canada and the United States have one of the closest bilateral relationships in the world, with a trade of $1.6 billion a day in goods, while 360,000 people cross their long border daily, according to US statistics.

Besides trade, the two allies also cooperate extensively on air defense and border issues.

The United States has frequently offered support for Calderon’s effort to combat murderous drugs cartels and the two sides recently solved a 16-year trade dispute which barred Mexican trucks from entering the United States.