*EPF206 02/29/00
Slater Promotes Regional Aviation Regime in East Asia
(Also cites work in Africa, OECD, Europe, Caribbean) (620)
By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr.
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater traveled to East Asia recently, visiting four major cities, to promote a new regional aviation architecture aimed at going beyond the current system of bilateral agreements.
The trip -- with stops in Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo -- was part of a longer journey for Slater who is leading a major U.S. initiative to develop global aviation liberalization regimes that are designed more like regional trade accords.
Slater's proposed new aviation architecture emphasizes regional cooperation among nations to implement policies that enhance safety and liberalize, deregulate and privatize services. The architecture Slater is promoting also seeks greater compatibility of standards and practices and encourages use of more environmentally friendly transportation products.
Asia's geographic and economic importance is central to Slater's initiative. In a conference call from Beijing with reporters in Washington February 24, Slater said Asia represents a region with more than a third of the world's population and a collective economy of $7,000,000 million.
"We're talking about an economy, again a collection of nations, that will significantly impact America's destiny and continued growth and prosperity as we move into a new century and a new millennium," he said.
In Singapore, Slater and his team met with transportation ministers from key member states of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) while attending the Asian Aerospace 2000 Exhibition.
"What we did was to use the occasion to forward this idea, a concept, of seeking a region-wide transportation liberalization result that would allow us to move beyond the limits of bilateral aviation negotiations," he said. "This subject, with a proposal that we've helped to craft, will be on the table before the APEC countries when they meet next month."
The draft text being tabled at the APEC meeting is for a multilateral air transport agreement, Slater said. "We think we're going to have very good discussion in the upcoming APEC working group meeting."
The United States currently has bilateral "Open Skies" agreements with 43 nations worldwide, including six Asia-Pacific markets -- Brunei, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan. The United States has a liberalized agreement, less than full Open Skies, with Japan.
The Open Skies program covers passenger, passenger-cargo combination and all-cargo air services. International traffic rights are essentially unrestricted between the United States and a foreign country in an Open Skies agreement.
Slater has already traveled to Central America and the Caribbean. The United States has invited the countries of the Caribbean (CARICOM) to discuss a regional Caribbean-U.S. aviation agreement.
A draft multilateral agreement between the United States and African countries is being circulated and will be taken up by heads of state later this year. In addition, workshops are planned in advance of the meeting to agree on details, Slater said. The effort is part of the U.S.-African initiatives launched by President Clinton.
The European Commission (EC) has invited the United States to enter into a dialogue with the aim of creating a "transatlantic aviation area." The Association of European Airlines has released a paper supporting these discussions, Slater said.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is examining liberalization and multilateralization of air cargo services, Slater added. The OECD will circulate a draft multilateral agreement in March and plans to hold a workshop for member countries to discuss the proposal in June, he said.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Website: usinfo.state.gov)
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