VZCZCXYZ0001
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHME #2308/01 2162333
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 042333Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7742
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 2645

UNCLAS MEXICO 002308 
 
SENSITIVE, SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USTR/MURPHY, MELLE, O'CONNOR 
NSC FOR RESTREPO/O'REILLY 
USDA FOR FFAS/MILLER, FAS FOR OA/MICHENER, STOLL, 
- ADAMS; OCRA/HIGGISTON, ZANIN; OSTA/HAMILTON; 
- ONA/RIEMENSCHNEIDER, GRUNENFELDER 
PASS APHIS FOR SMITH, FSIS FOR ALMANZA 
HHS FOR FDA 
COMMERCE FOR ITA/MAC/DAS/AC/SKIP JONES AND 
- ITA/MAC/DAS/WH/WALTER BASTIAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ETRD NAFTA PREL MX
SUBJECT: GOM SEEKS BROAD-RANGING REGULATORY 
HARMONIZATION 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Mexico's Secretariat of the 
Economy (SE) seeks broad-ranging harmonization of 
regulations affecting international trade in 
North America.  SE envisions a decades-long 
effort involving Mexico, Canada and the United 
States similar to the decades-long regulatory 
harmonization work in Europe that culminated in 
creation of the European Union's free trade zone. 
Addees should expect this issue to be raised at 
the upcoming Guadalajara North American Leaders' 
Summit (NALS)  END SUMMARY. 
 
------------ 
FIRST EFFORT 
------------ 
¶2. (SBU) SE Under Secretary for International 
Trade Negotiations Beatriz Leycegui advised the 
Embassy on August 4 that the draft trilateral 
Memorandum of Understanding on Regulatory 
Cooperation Issues floated to USTR and Commerce 
last week is a first stab at bringing to life a 
topic raised during the initial meeting between 
President Felipe Calderon and then-POTUS-elect 
Obama.  It was, she noted, also on the agenda of 
the February and April bilateral summits.  She 
added that Mexican veterinary, phytosanitary, and 
health authorities (SENASICA and COFEPRIS) were 
heavily involved in the drafting. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Leycegui underscored that this is an 
initial draft document and is subject to further 
revision as the process moves forward, assuming 
Canada and the United States are interested.  She 
added that sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) 
issues could be carved out into a separate MOU. 
However, Mexico would prefer a general MOU on 
regulatory issues that includes SPS- as well as 
other TBT-related issues. 
 
------------------------- 
SUSTAINED EFFORT FORESEEN 
------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Leycegui stated that the intent is to 
create a structure and boundaries for progress 
over the coming decades in harmonizing 
regulations that affect international trade. 
Knowing that the United States and Canada are 
averse to binding commitments in such a document, 
Leycegui said, Mexico seeks to identify 
priorities and perhaps 3 or 4 major projects to 
which we can jointly commit to work over a 
defined timeframe.  Perhaps, she said, we will 
find that we cannot make progress on some of them, 
but we need to find those areas where we can 
agree and to move forward on them.  The only 
binding commitment Mexico hopes for is a clear 
agreement on the issues that need to be worked. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
WHERE POSSIBLE, USE EXISTING STRUCTURES 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Leycegui noted that harmonization 
structures already exist but are in many cases 
dormant.  She suggested that the NAFTA Free Trade 
Commission and its existing working groups could 
be revived, adding that it would be important in 
each country to identify a central point of 
contact responsible for coordinating the work. 
We can recognize the existing framework, she said, 
use it, then identify priorities and get to work. 
Mexican officials are willing to spend as much 
time in Washington as may be necessary to make 
progress. 
 
----------------- 
OPEN TO NEW IDEAS 
----------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Leycegui said Mexico is open to new 
ideas, and posited as one example the U.S. 
tendency to include private-sector interests in 
the formulation of such policies.  We could start, 
she suggested, with the work already done by the 
USA Poultry and Egg Export Council and its 
Mexican counterpart, Union Nacional de 
Avicultores, and incorporate it into the annexes 
to the MOU.  NOTE: Leycegui as an attorney in 
private practice worked closely with USAPEEC and 
UNA and thus is well acquainted with this model. 
END NOTE. 
 
--------- 
NEXT STEP 
--------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) The next step, Leycegui said, is to seek 
trilateral commitment to the concept of 
regulatory cooperation at the upcoming summit in 
Guadalajara. 
 
-------- 
COMMENTS 
-------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) The GOM, and specifically SE, have made 
clear to us on multiple occasions that they 
believe economic integration of post-NAFTA North 
America will proceed regardless of what the 
national governments do.  The question to them is 
whether we will have the foresight and political 
will to shape the ongoing integration in a way 
that is most positive for all concerned.  This 
sweeping and ambitious proposal for broad-gauge 
regulatory cooperation and, ultimately, 
harmonization on the scale of the European 
Union's falls squarely into that philosophy of 
seeking to shape events. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Rarely is a tree felled with a single 
stroke of the axe, and the Mexicans realize that 
the tree of regulatory harmonization could only 
be felled with a decades-long succession of many, 
many cuts.  The GOM realizes just how ambitious 
its proposal is, but appears willing to start 
expending the effort, aware that the effort will 
have to be sustained over many years. 
FEELEY