NORTH AMERICAN TRANSPORTATION TRILATERAL OPENING STATEMENT

REMARKS FOR
THE HONORABLE MARY PETERS
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION

NORTH AMERICAN TRANSPORTATION TRILATERAL
OPENING STATEMENT
TUCSON, AZ

APRIL 27, 2007
8:45 AM

Good morning. On behalf of President Bush, it is a great honor for me to welcome our guests to the United States, and truly a special pleasure to host my friends and colleagues, Secretary Luis Téllez and Minister Lawrence Cannon, here in my home state of Arizona.

We are here to examine our combined transportation network in light of the surging NAFTA trade volumes and global competition that we must increasingly confront as a region. I hope our discussions can set the framework for building more coordinated and compatible national transportation systems to support freedom and prosperity across our region.

This is an historic meeting – the first time North America’s transportation ministers have ever come together for trilateral talks. Many will find that fact surprising for three such close neighbors, especially when the transportation systems we are responsible for are so critical to the expanded freedom and opportunity open trade is bringing to the North American continent.

Here in Tucson, and across Arizona, growing NAFTA trade has helped create almost half a million new jobs since December 2001. According to numbers released today by our Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in February alone, our network of pipelines, rails, and roads carried nearly $1 billion worth of freight across the border between Arizona and Mexico. Last year, Arizona sent $5.4 billion in goods to Mexico, making it the state’s top export market, with Canada running second with $1.8 billion in exports from Arizona crossing our northern border during that same time.

All told, North America’s transportation network carries a staggering $1.7 million in trade every minute among our three nations.

With globalization intensifying the pressures on all of our economies, it has never been more important to connect these networks, coordinate our policies, and remove the barriers that keep large and growing volumes of goods and travelers from moving efficiently across our common borders.

In the United States, we see the opportunities in aviation as especially promising.

I am pleased that our discussions are already moving us beyond the 2005 air services agreement between the United States and Mexico, and even the Open Skies accord Minister Cannon and I signed last month, which lifts restrictions on passenger flights between the U.S. and Canada.

There is growing momentum behind Open Skies, especially with the agreement my country recently reached with the European Union. Here, on our own continent, we have an opportunity to set the standard for free and open trans-border air travel.

The number of flights among our three countries increased by 30 percent over the last five years, and passenger traffic grew 33 percent between 2002 and 2006.

If we remove restrictions, these numbers are sure to soar even higher. Since the 2005 agreement, we have had to turn down 12 of 19 proposals from airlines wanting to offer new passenger and freight service between the U.S. and Mexico because our current agreement still limits service.

I am hopeful we will leave Tucson with a shared vision for true Open Skies over North America, clearing the way for better connections and more flexible and efficient air transportation across our continent and beyond. I look forward to the day when it is as easy for an airline to start new service between Tucson and Montreal or Monterrey as it is between Tucson and Austin.

We have similar opportunities today to set the framework so ports up and down the West Coast of North America have the flexibility to handle the growing volumes of trade with Asia. Indeed, we need a strategy to ensure the compatibility, safety, and efficiency of transportation systems not only in our individual countries, but throughout North America.

I thank my colleagues for accepting the invitation to discuss a framework for making our combined transportation network the safest and most efficient in the world. By furthering our progress in opening transportation markets and expanding freedom across our common borders, we can ensure the competitiveness of our North American neighborhood in the 21st century.

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Briefing Room