Canadian Minister of International Trade Peter Van Loan and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk issued a joint statement Friday on the Canada-U.S. agreement on government procurement issues.

The agreement includes permanent and reciprocal commitments under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) with respect to provincial, territorial and state procurement, and provides reciprocal guarantees of access on a temporary basis.

According to the reciprocal guarantees of access, Canada has agreed to provide U.S. suppliers with access to a range of construction contracts across Canada's provinces and territories, as well as in a number of municipalities, and the United State has agreed to provide Canadian suppliers with access to state and local public works projects in a range of programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

"The trade and investment relationship between Canada and the United States is very important to both of our countries. Cooperation helps support the global competitiveness of our exporters and is key to creating and sustaining employment in both of our countries," said the statement.

The statement also said that the two countries had agreed that there might be additional opportunities for expanding access to respective government procurement markets. Besides, the two sides agreed to begin discussions within the year to explore the possibility of additional reciprocal access to the procurement markets, and to establish an expedited consultation mechanism, which will allow for dialogue between Canada and the United States on any matter related to these issues as well.