Canada and the United States have agreed to negotiate a plan to reduce cross-border air pollution, Canada's environment minister said Friday.

John Baird, speaking to reporters after a day of talks in Washington, D.C., said the focus will be on reducing the flow of particulate matter, which is emitted from smokestacks and cars exhausts, and is linked to illnesses like asthma and heart disease.

Baird met with Stephen Johnson, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to discuss the plan on Friday. Specific details have not been worked out, as negotiations are just beginning.

"Canada cannot do it alone," Baird said. "That's why these meetings and visits are incredibly important."

He said Canada is ready to pursue air pollution reductions aggressively.

"I'm pleased to see [the EPA] is quite keen to move aggressively as well," he said.

The new plan will have ties to the U.S.-Canada Air Quality Agreement negotiated between the two countries in 1991. The countries already have agreements on acid rain, ground-level ozone and scientific co-operation.

Baird said regardless of how the negotiations with the U.S. turn out, the federal government will go ahead with plans to regulate the amount of emissions released by Canadian industry.

He said details of those plans will be available in a few weeks.

With files from the Canadian Press