*EPF310 10/11/00
Text: Transportation Secretary Opens International Symposium
(Proposes new transportation policy architecture) (2750)

U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater says global transportation has major implications for emerging economies.

The reason many emerging economies are left behind is that "they are not connected to the great global arteries of commerce -- the roads, the seaports, the railroads and the airports that move the world's resources that sustain growth," Slater said October 10.

At the opening of an international transportation symposium being held in Washington, he called on transportation ministers and policy makers from more than 90 countries to help end that isolation.

The first step in ending the isolation faced by many emerging economies, he said, is to take a global perspective. Globalization of the world's economies "is erasing many of the boundaries that used to define transportation's reach," he said.

Slater told the ministers that transportation policies affect more than the velocity of economic growth, but also those elements that make life worth living.

Following are terms and abbreviations used in the text:

-- billion: 1,000 million.

-- ICAO: International Civil Aviation Organization.

-- ITS: Intelligent Transport Systems.

-- APEC: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

-- ECMT: European Commission Ministers of Transportation.

Following is the text of Slater's remarks as prepared for delivery:

(begin text)

A New Transportation Policy Architecture for a New Century
Opening Address
By U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION RODNEY E. SLATER

International Transportation Symposium: "Moving to the 21st century-best practices of today and lessons for tomorrow"

WASHINGTON D.C., OCTOBER 10, 2000

For me, the journey leading up to today's historic symposium began in 1997, when President Clinton appointed me Secretary of Transportation. One of my first decisions was to invite the department's 100,000 employees to join me in "Leading the Way to Transportation Excellence in the 21st century" by working more closely with our partners, both here in the United States and internationally. What we found out by working with our international partners is that no nation has a monopoly on good ideas about 21st century transportation. In this new century and new millennium, we are all beginners.

Expanding the definition of transportation

What I also found out in my conversations with transportation experts around the world -- including many of you here this morning -- is that I am not alone in my concern that transportation must move beyond its traditional narrow definition as "public works." We need a broader framework to define transportation decision-making for the 21st century, one that takes into account an extraordinarily wide range of economic, social, political and environmental factors. The list of issues we must consider gets longer every day.

I call this more comprehensive, integrated approach a new transportation policy architecture for a new century. I was inspired by President Clinton and then-Treasury Secretary [Robert] Rubin when they called for a "new global financial architecture" in 1998 to deal with the global financial crisis. While we are not experiencing a 'global transportation crisis' today, I believe the concept fits. As I use it, "policy architecture," refers to the interlocking web of policies, practices and principles that shape and inform transportation decisions by stakeholders at all levels: governments, trade associations, organized labor and individual companies, as well as consumers and interest groups. The agenda of this symposium is designed not only to explore the best transportation practices of today on every continent, but also to serve as a forum to explore a new approach to transportation decision making for tomorrow.

Globalization and transportation

To begin our exploration we must adopt a global perspective, because globalization is erasing many of the boundaries that used to define transportation's reach. President Clinton has good reason to call globalization "The central reality of our time." The world economy today is fifteen times its size of just 40 years ago. And travel and tourism have already become the world's largest industry.

Transportation has played a major role in this trade-driven expansion, because without transportation, there is no trade. At the same time, this unprecedented growth requires greater sophistication in our transportation choices: To improve the safety, efficiency and productivity of our transportation systems, we must choose when and how to deploy new technologies, and how to pay for them. We face choices about protecting the environment of our nations and the world without jeopardizing the hopes of workers and their families for higher living standards. We face the challenge of encouraging alternative forms of transportation-fuel-efficient vehicles, alternative fuels, even as we ask people to take a second look at traditional ways of moving about, such as bicycling, and walking. There was a time in the not-so-distant past when none of these choices would have been considered part of our job.

However, the greatest challenge, by far, is how to use the power of transportation to expand the circle of prosperity to include everyone. There are now more than 6 billion people living on the earth, half of them living on $2 a day or less. South African finance minister Trevor Manuel called the world to account two weeks ago, when he said, "There is nothing automatic about the benefits of globalization. The fact is that too many people continue to be left behind."

TRANSPORTATION brings commerce to communities

This global perspective has regional and local implications. The reason that all too many communities are left behind' is that they are not connected to the great global arteries of commerce -- the roads, the seaports, the railroads and the airports that move the world's resources that sustain growth. As transportation decision-makers, we can help end this isolation. The Maputo Development Corridor linking South Africa's heartland with Mozambique's Port of Maputo is a good example of what can be done when nations work together.

I know what is it like to live in an isolated community. When I was growing up, Marianna, Arkansas was not only economically strapped -- it was physically cut off from the mainstream of American life. With the construction of the Interstate Highway System, stretching east and west, north and south, towns like Marianna, in the heartland of America became connected to the industrial hubs of the Midwest and the economic engines of the east and west coasts. Marianna and other small towns across the country were suddenly connected with opportunity. Marianna's prospects were greatly enhanced when Memphis, Tennessee -- just 50 miles away -- evolved into the "distribution capital" of the world.

I never forgot this lesson. Transportation is a central theme of President Clinton and Vice President Gore's efforts to extend America's record-level prosperity to communities that have been left behind, by forging links between these communities and a wider world. We have extensive programs to forge such links, all of which have a transportation component.

These programs include the Mississippi Delta Initiative, modeled on the Appalachian Regional Commission-a 35 year old success story that has restored prosperity to "hills and hollows" throughout America's eastern mountain region-and The New Market Initiative, which focuses on depressed urban and rural areas, including Native American communities. Again, transportation is a critical component for lasting improvements. Internationally, this strategy includes DOT's Transportation Initiative for Africa, our efforts to establish a Partnership for Safer Skies in Central America and the Caribbean, as well as other international programs.

Transportation policy affects more than the velocity of economic growth. It also impacts what makes life worth living. In his annual transportation message earlier this year, President Clinton urged transportation decision-makers to "Make our communities more livable, give our citizens greater choice and mobility, protect our environment and help create a truly global community."

No aspect of transportation is more important than safety, which remains President Clinton and Vice President Gore's top transportation priority-the 'North Star' guiding everything we do and by which we are willing to be judged at the U.S. Department of Transportation. As income rises, more and more people have access to automobiles. Worldwide, road-related crashes are already the leading cause of deaths for adult males. This trend requires action. In this regard, I commend our African partners for last month's regional road safety conference.

In addition to being safe, the transportation systems we build must also be sustainable. The current global concern over oil prices and the mandates of the Kyoto Agreement strongly support Vice President Gore's assertion that "Sustainable growth is clearly now the main imperative" when it comes to long range planning. The agenda of our symposium reflects this imperative with respect to all modes of transportation.

Safety and sustainability are just the minimum requirements for transportation in the 21st century. To these, I would also add that the transportation system of the future must be: International in reach, connecting markets and destinations around the world; Intermodal in form, achieving a balance among various modes of transportation; Intelligent in character, allowing us to harness the awesome power of technology in ways that benefit people; And Inclusive in service, leaving no one behind. And to support all of these goals, we must nurture a climate of innovation that spurs us on to higher heights than any of us thought possible.

Let me illustrate each category with some examples: First, to be equal to the challenges ahead, transportation systems must also be international in reach. Our historic meeting this week symbolizes this trend, as will the 12 bilateral agreements scheduled for signing over the course of this symposium.

Second, the transportation system of the 21st century will become increasingly intermodal in form, as we seek to enable travelers and shippers to enjoy the seamless synergy of multiple modes of transportation operating as one. In some areas of Europe it is already possible to purchase a single ticket allowing travel on a combination of air, rail and ferry. I also commend the exemplary approach to intermodalism I saw during my visit to the Port of Rotterdam earlier this year.

Third, transportation will become more intelligent in character. The key technological driver today is clearly the computer and communications revolution. This morning's video presentation explored the transportation innovations of the last century. The great breakthroughs for transportation of this century are likely come from the application of information and computer technology.

Intelligent transportation technology embraces a host of applications involving the use of computers, GPS [Global Positioning System] satellites, sensing devices, retinal, voice and fingerprint scanners for transportation security and mobile communications, as well as smart vehicles and building materials. I am also excited by nanotechnology -- the emerging science of building useful machines out of individual molecules -- which holds forth possible breakthrough applications in a number of areas, including propulsion.

Fourth, 21st century transportation must be inclusive in service, leaving no one behind. During my transportation policy mission to the Far East earlier this year, I was impressed with the vigor and imagination of Japan's efforts on behalf of the disabled. Our domestic transportation agenda in the United States also reflects this priority, with programs ranging from assuring access for the disabled, to efforts designed to help former welfare recipients get to and from work.

And to support all four of these goals for 21st century transportation, we must nurture a climate of innovation that spurs us on to higher heights than any of us thought possible. Many of the Best Practice success stories we will hear over the next few days should stimulate all of us to use more imagination when we design programs.

My categories, of course, are not the only way to frame these issues. My colleague and fellow transportation minister from Canada, David Collenette, has suggested an alternative four-part framework that he calls the "four Ss." These include safety and sustainability, (which are on my list of concerns as well), smart transportation systems -- which overlaps my category of 'intelligent' systems to some extent -- and a fourth "S" calling for strategic investments in transportation. I am proud of the fact that here in the U.S. we have been able to create a bipartisan consensus supporting substantial investments in transportation. The fiscal year 2001 transportation appropriations bill passed by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives just last Friday, provides for a record-level transportation investment of historic proportions.

The next step

Over the course of the next few days, I urge all of you to share your preferred system of categories for envisioning the global agenda for transportation in the years ahead. This is an essential first step toward the new policy architecture I have been describing. For only by working through all the possible ways of describing the issues facing us, can we construct a shared vision for the future that challenges and inspires all of us.

On Thursday [October 12], we will use our shared vision to generate a "Declaration of Common Principles" governments and other planning organizations, both public and private, can use to guide future transportation development. This set of principles will be our source of guidance as we try to implement the more comprehensive approach to policymaking I have been advocating. It is my hope that international transportation organizations such as ICAO, the ITS World Congress and the International Maritime Organization will be able to make use of these principles in their policy deliberations.

As we seek to identify these principles, we will be building on precedents established on a regional level in the Western Hemisphere, Africa, Asia and Europe. As we look ahead, there will be a time in the not-to-distant future, when a seamless, integrated transportation system moves people and goods safely and efficiently to their destinations anywhere in the world. Before that happens, we should be aware that such a system will almost certainly succeed on a regional basis, before it takes hold on a global basis.

In December 1998, the transport ministers of the Americas met in New Orleans where we adopted a two-year action agenda to improve the quality of transportation throughout the region. This Friday [October 13] I will be meeting with transport ministers of the Americas to explore steps we might take to move on to the next stage in this effort. Our conversations here also build on the significant regional progress we made at the first-ever U.S.-Africa Transportation Ministerial, held in Atlanta last September. We have followed through on that progress by signing 6 new open skies agreements.

I have also discussed the need for action with members of APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum] -- whom I met with as a group in Singapore -- and the transportation leaders of European Union, whom I saw during several visits over the past two years. I found last spring's ECMT Conference in Prague particularly useful.

And I would cite the progress we made in the aviation area at last December's Aviation in the 21st Century -- Beyond Open Skies ministerial in Chicago, building on the legacy of the first Chicago global aviation conference some 55 years ago.

The lesson I have learned from all of the experiences is that, as individuals, we may have knowledge-but only through the sharing of that knowledge can we attain the wisdom necessary to ensure our success. The day when transportation decisions could be made behind closed doors is over. It was this insight that led to my decision to hold this symposium, confident that we would succeed in raising our vision of what's possible to a new level -- harnessing the power of transportation to create a world of abundance, with no one left out.

Transportation is about more than "concrete, asphalt and steel"; it is about people. Transportation is the tie that binds communities as well as nations, linking us to home, daycare, school, the workplace, medical care, retail stores and entertainment. As we look to the future, I am confident that we truly are in on the ground floor of a new age of prosperity for everyone. And the role of transportation in this new age is to create the links that make it happen. Transportation is the tie that binds.

As former South African President Nelson Mandela has said, "Though the challenges of the present time ... are greater than those we have already overcome, we face the future with confidence. We do so, despite the difficulties and the tensions that confront us, because there is in all of us the capacity to touch one another's hearts across oceans and continents."

(end text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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