Three business groups from nacec.NAFTA member countries recently signed a cooperation agreement with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). "What is good for the environment is good for business," said Victor Lichtinger, CEC Executive Director, at the signing of the agreement in Mexico City on January 30.

The Mexican Confederación de Cámaras Industriales (Concamín) [Confederation of Chambers of Industry], the United States Council for International Business, and the International Business Council of Canada agreed to collaborate with the CEC to promote healthy environmental practices, to exchange information, to improve environmental education and awareness, and to review criteria for standards development and technology transfer.

The agreement, the first of its kind, was signed on the second day of a seminar organized by Concamín to familiarize small- and medium-size industries with the ISO 14000 international environmental standard.

Mr. Lichtinger praised the initiative of the business leaders and expressed his confidence that regional cooperation in environmental practices "will help North American industries compete globally, thus making them more productive and efficient".

The agreement was signed by Concamín Vice-president Guillermo Barroso, for Mexico, by Tim Page, President of the International Business Council of Canada (IBCC), and by Jonathan Plaut, President of the Environmental Committee of the United States Council for International Business.

Julia Carabias, the head of the Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Pesca (SEMARNAP) [Secretariat for the Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries], emphasized the significance of the cooperative understanding. Speaking at the closing ceremony, she expressed SEMARNAP’s intention to use the CEC forum and the experience of the other two NAFTA countries, the U.S. and Canada, in developing and implementing an agreement on innovative schemes for environmental regulations and competitiveness between the Government of Mexico and Mexican industry.