OTTAWA — Government officials from Canada and the United States announced a new joint border investment plan called Canada-United States Border Infrastructure Investment Plan (BIIP).

BIIP is an interagency, binational plan meant to help with recent, ongoing and potential border infrastructure projects. The plan will outline the approach to coordinate infrastructure upgrades at small and remote crossings across Canada and the United States.

“These investments will reduce border delays, expedite trade across our shared border, and allow the Canada Border Services Agency to focus on facilitating the flow of low-risk people and goods while keeping the border open to legitimate trade and travel,” said Vic Toews, Canada’s minister of public safety.

“Modern border crossings are essential to the efficient flow of trade and travellers, which is why the Border Infrastructure Investment Plan and the collaborative relationship with our American neighbours are so important,” added Denis Lebel, minister of transport, infrastructure and communities. 

The plan will be updated and re-distributed every year. BIIP is created under the Beyond the Border Action Plan — which saw the synchronization of some U.S. and Canadian cross-border rules to remove red tape and improve trade between both countries, among other things — and follows major investments at four border crossings across the country — Lacolle, QC; Lansdowne, ON (1000 Island Bridge); Emerson, MB; North Portal, SK.

Canada and the U.S. share the world’s largest trade partnership with over $570 billion in two-way trade in 2012. You can find more information at www.dhs.gov/beyond-the-border and www.actionplan.gc.ca/border.