PRIME MINISTER HARPER TO ATTEND SIXTH NORTH AMERICAN LEADERS’ SUMMIT IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

www.insurancerate.com StarBuzz Weekly, Toronto-

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced that he will join U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderón for the sixth North American Leaders’ Summit (NALS) on April 2, 2012, in Washington, D.C.

“Canada, the United States and Mexico have forged a strong partnership built on free and open trade and close cooperation on security,” said the Prime Minister. “The government’s number one priority remains the creation of jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for all Canadians, particularly through trade, including with our close friends the United States and Mexico.”

During this year’s Summit, the leaders will focus their attention on the following themes:  strengthening North America's global competitiveness and addressing threats to security in North America and throughout the hemisphere. They will also discuss North America’s role in the Americas in anticipation of the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, in April, 2012.

The last North American Leaders’ Summit was hosted in Guadalajara, Mexico in August 2009.  The previously scheduled NALS, to have been hosted by President Obama in Honolulu, Hawaii, in November 2011, was postponed following the tragic death of Mexican Secretary of the Interior Francisco Blake Mora.