Joint Statement Following Discussions With the Prime Minister of Canada.

USEFUL discussions on many matters have been held during the past two days while Prime Minister Pearson has been visiting Washington as the guest of President Johnson. The Prime Minister was accompanied by Mr. Paul Martin, Secretary of State for External Affairs. Mr. Dean Rusk, Secretary of State, was with the President.

The President and the Prime Minister had a wide-ranging discussion about the international situation. In their review of world affairs they discussed the NATO alliance and the Atlantic Community, the prospects for easing East-West tensions, the importance of practical specific initiative toward disarmament, and the current problems in Asia, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere. They will continue to cooperate fully in helping the countries of these areas move toward economic development, political stability, and peace along their borders.

The Prime Minister and the President noted with satisfaction the progress made towards the cessation of nuclear testing. They affirmed their desire to promote additional measures to ease international tensions and to support further advances towards effective disarmament. The steady development of the peacekeeping capacity of the United Nations remains for both a goal essential to the preservation of world peace.

The President and the Prime Minister examined various bilateral defense questions and noted with satisfaction that appropriate agreements have lately been concluded between their two Governments. They agreed to plan for a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee on Defense during the first half of this year. They reaffirmed the support of both Governments for the developing defense production sharing program, which is of mutual benefit.

The Prime Minister and the President referred to the balance of payments problems of their respective countries. They reviewed outstanding economic problems between the two countries, including certain trade and tax measures. They agreed on the urgency of successful GATT negotiations to achieve a substantial reduction of trade barriers in order to meet the goal of expanded world trade.

The President and the Prime Minister reviewed the work of the joint Cabinet level Committee on trade and economic affairs at its meeting last September and agreed that it should meet again around the end of April.

The Prime Minister and the President discussed at some length the practicability and desirability of working out acceptable principles which would make it easier to avoid divergences in economic and other policies of interest to each other. They appreciated that any such principles would have to take full account of the interests of other countries and of existing international arrangements. The President and the Prime Minister considered that it would be worthwhile to have the possibilities examined. Accordingly, they are arranging to establish a Working Group, at a senior level, to study the matter and to submit a progress report to the April meeting of the Joint Committee.

The Prime Minister and the President agreed that negotiations on the bilateral air agreement should be undertaken almost immediately, with a view to working out satisfactory arrangements on a North American basis.

The President and the Prime Minister noted the importance of shipping on the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway and agreed to cooperate with each other and with labor and management in each country to avoid industrial strife along these waters.

Final agreement was reached on the use of the resources of the Columbia River Basin, and this agreement was embodied in an exchange of notes between Secretary of State Rusk and the Secretary of State for External Affairs for Canada, Mr. Paul Martin. The Columbia River Treaty signed in 1961, was ratified that year by the United States; the agreements reached today pave the way for Canadian ratification and make possible the further development of the resources of this great Basin.

At the same time, the President and the Prime Minister have joined in arrangements to establish on the East Coast the Roosevelt International Park at Campobello, New Brunswick, in memory of a President who took a keen interest in both countries and in the good relations between them.

In recognition of the breadth and importance of their mutual interests, the President and the Prime Minister have determined to maintain close and continuous contact, on a personal and confidential basis and in the spirit of candor and friendship that has characterized these meetings.