Text: Secretary of Transportation Slater Remarks in Hong Kong
(Advocates more open aviation system in East Asia-Pacific)U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater, speaking to the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong February 23, said "aviation will be a driving force for economic development in the 21st century and the new millennium."
He said the members of his U.S. Transportation Policy Mission to Asia were traveling through Asia as enthusiastic advocates of a more open aviation system in the region based on "plurilateral" agreements among groups of like-minded countries.
"However, the biggest policy challenge facing the transportation systems of this region is also our greatest opportunity -- the increasingly bright prospects for growth in U.S.-Asia trade and tourism, especially after China joins the World Trade Organization (WTO)," Slater declared.
Slater said President Clinton is a strong advocate of China's full participation in the emerging global economy, and has called upon the U.S. Congress to support the U.S.-China agreement negotiated for China's accession to the WTO by passing permanent Normal Trade Relations with China as soon as possible this year.
"We will therefore be affirming our support for this policy at every stop on this mission," Slater said.
In discussing the U.S. Transportation Policy Mission's itinerary, Slater said he had met with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)/Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Ministers of Transport in Singapore to urge them to move forward on region-wide aviation liberalization. He added that the mission was in Hong Kong to promote a bilateral liberalized air service agreement and to discuss maritime access and other transportation issues.
Slater said once the mission reached China, they intended to advance the case for a bilateral Open Skies agreement between the People's Republic of China and the United States. He added that negotiations were currently underway concerning a new bilateral maritime agreement with China to reduce restrictions on U.S. carriers.
The mission is also scheduled to visit Japan to discuss several specific aviation and maritime access issues.
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REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION RODNEY E. SLATER
AMCHAM CHAMBER-WIDE LUNCHEON MEETING, HONG KONG
FEBRUARY 23, 2000I am delighted to be in Hong Kong and honored to have this opportunity to brief the American Chamber here during this week's U.S. Transportation Policy Mission to Asia.
Now that the Asian financial crisis has given way to renewed optimism, Asia's $7 trillion dollar market -- home to one-third of the world's population -- is poised to move to "higher heights" than many dreamed possible only a few years ago.... Not just economically, but socially and politically as well.
And that is what this transportation policy mission is all about -- promoting President Clinton and Vice President Gore's goals of prosperity, stability and democracy in all areas of the world -- including Asia.
America begins the new century with the strongest economy ever -- over 20 million new jobs, the fastest economic growth in 30 years; the lowest poverty rates in 20 years; and the first back-to-back budget surpluses in 42 years.... And, as of February 1, the longest period of continuous economic growth in our nation's history. Yet we have not achieved this on our own. One quarter to one third of our economic growth is a direct result of trade.
As President Clinton emphasized in his State of the Union Message last month, "To realize the full possibilities of this economy, we must reach beyond our own borders to shape the revolution that is tearing down barriers and building new networks among nations and individuals, and economies and cultures."
That revolution is globalization, which the President calls "The central reality of our time."
And transportation is critical to globalization. It is about more than "concrete, asphalt and steel." It is the tie that binds peoples and communities across national boundaries; without it, there can be no trade.
I began this mission's meetings with my transportation counterparts and other business and government officials in Singapore where we discussed many transportation issues including aviation and maritime. Today our delegation is pleased to be here in Hong Kong. The next stops on our itinerary are Beijing and Tokyo, where we will continue dialogue on aviation liberalization.
Our mission's agenda is to foster a shared vision of how the transportation industry should respond to the challenge of globalization. The vision we seek to foster is of a "safe and sustainable transportation system" that is international in reach, intermodal in form, intelligent in character, and inclusive in service.
To achieve this vision we must forge a new transportation policy architecture consistent with the needs of this new century and new millennium.
By "policy architecture," I am referring to the interlocking web of policies and practices that shape and guide transportation decisions by stakeholders at all levels: governments, industry, associations, organized labor and individual companies, as well as consumers and interest groups.
The new policy architecture I seek to encourage in my conversations this week, is one that, first and foremost, increases regional cooperation to enhance safety -- which remains President Clinton's top transportation priority and the "North Star" guiding everything we do at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
My second priority is to look for ways to reduce "over management" by government through policies that liberalize, deregulate and privatize.
My third priority is to seek a consensus on ways to encourage the use of more environmentally friendly transportation products.
We know all of this is possible. An excellent example of success through cooperation is by working together world wide, the transportation community passed safely through Y2K, the first global challenge of the information age. On this mission I intend to encourage similar cooperation in the environmental area.
However, the biggest policy challenge facing the transportation systems of this region is also our greatest opportunity -- the increasingly bright prospects for growth in U.S.-Asia trade and tourism, especially after China joins the World Trade Organization.
President Clinton is a strong advocate of China's full participation in the emerging global economy, which he believes "will plainly advance the cause of peace in Asia and promote the cause of change in China."
He has therefore called upon the Congress to "support the agreement we negotiated to bring China into the WTO by passing Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China as soon as possible this year."
We will therefore be affirming our support for this policy at every stop on this mission.
The Administration appreciates the support of the U.S. business community with regard to China's accession to the WTO and looks forward to continuing to work with you as we increase trade with China and with other countries in the Asia Pacific region.
By helping to liberalize China's economy, WTO and Permanent Normal Trade Relations will open new economic freedoms for Chinese citizens and promote the rule of law in many fields. By integrating China more firmly into the Pacific and world economies, these steps will give China a greater stake in regional stability and prosperity.
In addition to these overall policy objectives, we also have some specific agenda items for each stop during the mission:
Yesterday in Singapore, I met with the APEC/ASEAN Ministers of Transport to urge them to move forward on region-wide aviation liberalization, which is already on the agenda of next month's APEC Working Group Meeting.
I also had a very productive meeting with China's Civil Aviation Administrator, Liu Jianfeng, who will unfortunately not be in Beijing during my visit, but with whom I look forward to having continued discussions.
We are here in Hong Kong, to promote a bilateral liberalized air service agreement and to discuss maritime access and other transportation issues.
The aviation relationship between the people of Hong Kong and the people of the United States is one of the oldest we have, dating back to the aftermath of World War II.
The U.S. and Hong Kong have a chance to create and strengthen a congenial environment -- an environment that results in increased markets, air cargo business and tourism revenues. To insure these possibilities it is necessary for us to renegotiate/revise our bilateral agreement.
Our current aviation relationship is now governed by a separate agreement and we look forward to continuing discussions on improving our relationship and expanding air services between Hong Kong and the United States.
In Beijing, I intend to advance the case for a bilateral Open Skies agreement between the People's Republic of China and the U.S.
We are also currently negotiating a new bilateral maritime agreement with China to reduce restrictions on U.S. carriers. Our Maritime Administrator, Clyde Hart, will be returning to Beijing later in the week for further discussions.
Finally, in Tokyo, we will be discussing several specific aviation and maritime access issues.
While our agenda is broad, our emphasis on this mission is clearly on aviation. This is because aviation will be a driving force for economic development in the 21st century and the new millennium.
If the claim that "all roads lead to Rome" were the key indicator of that city's greatness in ancient times, a modern city's equivalent claim would have to be "all airlines land here." Hong Kong, with its strategic location at the heart of East Asia, has long been one of the world's great transportation centers.
For more than half a century, international aviation has been governed by the bilateral approach established by the historic Chicago Aviation Conference of 1944.
We have achieved enormous progress under the bilateral system. And the pace of bilateral negotiations has picked up significantly under President Clinton and Vice President Gore's leadership; we are proud of the fact that the U.S. now has 43 Open Skies partners, including six new partners in the Asia/Pacific region.
Including these six, we have amended more than a dozen aviation agreements with Asia/Pacific countries in less than six years and liberalized aviation relations with other nations in the region as well, including China and Japan.
However, it is now widely recognized that the bilateral system is obsolete. The old system allows governments to impose significant restrictions on airline operations, denies customers the freedom to choose the services they need -- and the airlines the freedom to serve those needs.
I am therefore traveling this week as an enthusiastic advocate of a more open aviation system in Asia, based on what we are calling "plurilateral" agreements among groups of like-minded countries. Eventually we would like to see a truly integrated global framework for international aviation.
This approach builds on the Aviation in the 21st Century -- Beyond Open Skies conference we held in Chicago last December, in the same location as the original Chicago Aviation Conference of 1944.
Aviation ministers and other leaders representing 90 countries joined us to discuss options for the future of international aviation. The Conference concluded with a Ministerial Declaration endorsing continued efforts to work together to assure the success of aviation in the 21st century -- including a new policy architecture for civil aviation.
We are also focusing our attention, throughout this trip on a related issue -- the explosive growth of e-commerce -- and the need for the physical transportation system to keep pace with that growth, especially in the aviation sector.
E-commerce already accounts for one third of the real growth in the U.S. economy and is expected to triple the value of cargo shipped by air by the year 2015.
It may be true that e-commerce operates "by the click of a button." However, as I emphasized at the Executive Forum on "Delivering E-Commerce" in Atlanta less than two weeks ago, e-commerce still requires planes, trains and trucks to move goods to their destinations after they are ordered over the Internet. You can order "Steaks from Omaha" on-line, but you still can't download them to your plate.
Let me sum up our agenda for this Transportation Policy Mission by saying that our goal is to ensure that international transportation in the Asia-Pacific region is ready for the challenge of globalization at the dawn of a new century and new millennium.
As President Clinton puts it, "Today, at the start of a new century ... the entire world finds itself at a crossroads. Globalization is revolutionizing the way we work, the way we live, and perhaps most important, the way we relate to each other across national boundaries."
I believe, along with the President, that open markets and rule-based trade are the best engines we know of for raising living standards, reducing poverty, saving the environment -- and assuring the free flow of ideas and goods.
That is our objective during this week's Mission to Asia. Now, as part of encouraging the "free flow of ideas," I would welcome your questions. (end text)
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