Secretary Pritzker Joins President Obama at the North American Leaders' Summit: Signs MOU on Promoting Women’s Entrepreneurship

Today, Secretary Pritzker accompanied President Obama and the U.S. delegation to Ottawa, Canada to attend the North American Leaders’ Summit. The Summit represents the importance that all three countries place on cooperation in North America, specifically in areas of economy, politics and security. This year’s NALS is hosted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and included bilateral and trilateral meetings between Mexico, Canada and the United States in hopes of strengthening ties between all three countries.

After participating in a numerous multilateral meetings focused on economic cooperation, Secretary Pritzker addressed barriers to women’s full participation in the economy.

She signed a Memorandum of Understanding, “Promoting Women’s Entrepreneurship and the Growth of Women-Owned Enterprises in North America,” to exemplify her support for women-led entrepreneurship. The MOU solidified the cooperation between all three countries to recognize the importance of women entrepreneurs and made a commitment to strive for gender equality in the field. The Memorandum was supported and signed by numerous North American leaders including Secretary of State John Kerry and both Mexican and Canadian Ministers of Trade and Economy.

Following the Memorandum signing, Secretary Pritzker attended a bilateral meeting between the United States and Canada spearheaded by President Obama and Prime Minister Trudeau. She thanked Canada for helping make the SelectUSA Summit such a success and for their continued support of U.S. business as the fourth largest source of foreign direct investment to the United States.

Subsequently, Secretary Pritzker explained the continued importance that the Department of Commerce has placed on cluster mapping as Canada has agreed to develop its cluster map to help make decisions on where to invest in North America. Secretary Pritzker’s visit concluded with President Obama’s address to Canadian Parliament and a tour of the Library of Parliament. 

The previous NALS, hosted in Toluca, Mexico, facilitated meetings and discussion over topics such as trade and investment, economic competitiveness and entrepreneurship. There, Secretary Pritzker provided an overview of the Department of Commerce’s work on increasing economic integration. In hopes of continuing progress, today, Secretary Pritzker advocated on behalf of economic cooperation and the importance of a unified economic relationship between all three countries.