Panetta to Travel to Canada for Defense Meetings

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 22, 2012 – Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta will travel to Canada’s capital of Ottawa on March 26 for meetings with Canadian and Mexican defense officials, Pentagon officials said.

Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay will host the meeting, which includes Mexican defense leaders for the first time.

Mexico’s Defense Secretary Gen. Guillermo Galvan and Navy Secretary Adm. Mariano Francisco Saynaz will attend, and all will discuss continental defense initiatives, said Pentagon Press Secretary George Little.

These issues include counternarcotics cooperation, support to humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations and trilateral support for North and South America’s defense institutions, Little said.

Panetta will hold bilateral meetings with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts, then leaders from all three countries will meet for the first Trilateral Meetings of North American Defense Ministers.