REMARKS
PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION RODNEY E. SLATER
THIRD U.S.-MEXICO BORDER INFRASTRUCTURE CONFERENCE
TIJUANA, MEXICO
JUNE 3, 1999
As we approach and plan for the new millennium and the next century, we should ask ourselves; how will our efforts and actions to build strong cooperative societies and economies be judged in a hundred years time.
Indeed, this is the measure for the task that we have chosen: to be both visionary and vigilant as we rise to the challenge of our shared future together. Carlos Fuentes put it well: "So many barriers that used to keep us apart have disappeared. We are more and more united."
But as President Clinton has said, "This is not a time to rest -- but a time to build." Indeed, cooperative programs like those featured at this conference clearly demonstrate that we have begun a new era of cooperation between our peoples.
And just as we celebrate the success of this conference, this week we are celebrating International Highway Transportation Safety Week. Under the theme, "Safety is a Shared Responsibility," all three NAFTA nations are demonstrating their shared dedication to motor carrier highway safety.
International Transportation Safety Week also reminds us that truck safety and bus access issues have been a concern for the U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship.
This administration is committed to seeing these issues resolved.
And this Administration is committed to implementing NAFTA. Secretary Ruiz and I met in Washington on May 21st to move these issues closer to solution. And we will discuss these issues further with my friend in Mexico City tomorrow.
To make sure that we adhere to our agreed-upon timetable for full NAFTA implementation, our technical staffs have also been meeting on a monthly basis and have made significant progress in resolving some very difficult issues.
One factor that justifies optimism is that President Zedillo and President Clinton are publicly committed to transforming this border region into a model of bilateral cooperation.
Another reason is that I am working with my friend, Secretary Ruiz.
I thought it was particularly symbolic that on the very evening of the day the two of us met in Washington to discuss those issues which divide our two countries. Both of us were invited to the United States–Mexico Chamber of Commerce Award Gala.
There both of us were awarded the Chamber’s "Good Neighbor" Award for the work we and so many others have done to bring our two countries together.
When I think back to what the two of us said in our acceptance remarks that night, I am struck by the fact that our response...on behalf of our respective countries...was that "the best is yet to come."
I believe that-and will work diligently to make it a reality.
A lot has happened with respect to bilateral transportation over the past 12 months that has demonstrated our shared vision.
This Transition Plan transformed our Joint Working Committee on Transportation Planning (JWC) from an organization that manages studies into an organization that conducts transportation planning and programming.
The JWC itself was created in 1993 by then-transportation Secretaries Peņa and Gamboa.
During their tenure, the JWC conducted the original study that recommended a shift from research to action. That study also established a binational databank. By sharing information on trade and traffic flows and other baseline data, this databank helps our two nations to coordinate and track commitments.
Another important accomplishment of the Joint Working Committee has been the creation of the Border Technology Exchange Program (BTEP). Initially focused on training and technical assistance, BTEP has moved up to creating working technology transfer centers.
Four centers have opened their doors in the States of Chihuahua, Sonora, Nuevo Leon and California. Two more centers are planned for the States of Tamaulipas and Coahuila.
BTEP has opened channels of communication and exchange across the border where none may have existed before. States on both sides of the border are actively participating in the program, which has been acclaimed by state-level highway officials in both Mexico and the United States. With additional support, this program could be even more effective.
While on the general subject of technology and cooperation, let me briefly mention the good work all three NAFTA partners have been doing to deal with the "Y2K" issue.
The Trilateral Working Group, representing the U.S., Mexico and Canada, is confident that each of our countries is taking the necessary steps to meet the Y2K challenge.
Mexico and the U.S. have closely coordinated their Y2K responses on aviation and shipping issues. For example, last December the Transportation Ministers of this hemisphere met in New Orleans. As a result, Mexico recently sponsored a follow-up conference focusing on Y2K-related transportation issues affecting the Western Hemisphere.
Last June, President Clinton signed legislation into law that provides a record-level investment of $200 billion to U.S. states to finance transportation infrastructure projects over the next six years.
The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, commonly known as "TEA-21," specifically provides $700 million for our new Coordinated Border Infrastructure and National Corridor Planning and Development Programs.
Projects funded under the Coordinated Border Infrastructure Program target the safe movement of people and goods at international land borders. These include border gateways, improvements to inspection stations, intelligent transportation systems (ITS), and rail improvements.
The National Corridor Planning and Development Program funds state and metropolitan regional projects that plan, coordinate, design and eventually construct ‘corridors of national significance’ that promote economic growth and international or interregional trade.
Last Thursday I announced grants, totaling $123 million, for the first 55 projects under these two programs.
For example, along the Arizona border we approved $2.5 million of site development work for commercial vehicle inspection and weighing activities near Nogales.
In California we allocated $340 thousand to study the feasibility of new border crossings and other projects in the vicinity of Mexicali.
In Texas we have a $2.5 million project to improve border stations at the El Paso Bridge and $1.9 million for 3 projects in Hidalgo County, including a safety inspection facility. This package included funds for 11 multi-state projects, including three Mexico-to-Canada corridors.
Even unbuilt, these future trade corridors are already reshaping the economy of the continent.
This past April I had the opportunity to conduct a six-day intermodal mission across eight states, roughly tracing the route of one of these corridors -- Corridor 18 -- which runs from Canada-Michigan border to the Texas-Mexican border.
Corridor 18 is already emerging as a powerful economic artery running through the U.S. heartland, generating thousands of jobs and stimulating the growth of businesses all along its path. Thirty-eight percent of the dollar value of U.S. truck-borne trade with Mexico and Canada already passes through states along both sides of the route. When Corridor 18 is completed, that percentage will surely rise. And twenty of our nation’s top 25 seaports will also lie within easy reach of the corridor.
These corridors tie into connecting routes across borders. In January 1997, President Zedillo inaugurated a "NAFTA highway" to boost trade between Mexico and the U.S. In June 1997, the President dedicated 62 miles of the highway, a stretch running through the state of San Luis Potosi about halfway between Mexico City and Laredo.
President Zedillo announced that the Mexican government would spend another $38 million to complete this NAFTA highway. Today, that new road carries about half the cargo running between the U.S. and Mexico.
So far I have focused on surface transportation. But as Secretary Daley mentioned in his introduction, I have also been deeply involved in efforts to seek liberalized aviation agreements between the U.S. and its trading partners around the world.
I strongly believe that aviation will be a driving force for economic growth in the new millennium. So I was delighted that Secretary Ruiz and I were able to sign an aviation agreement liberalizing air services between our two countries this past February.
This agreement is enormously important for the future social as well as economic development of our two countries, carrying both nations and their citizens to higher heights.
While I am excited about this new bilateral agreement, I want to emphasize that our ultimate hope is to replace the thousands of bilateral aviation markets created by the existing system with a single, open, international aviation market.
The United States is therefore calling upon all our aviation partners, including Mexico, to join us for an aviation conference in Chicago this coming December to address international aviation in the 21st century.
This leads me to the final point. Although NAFTA is already a resounding success, regional integration is also moving forward throughout the rest of the hemisphere.
In two historic Summits of the Heads of State of the Americas and a host of supporting meetings, the democratic nations of the hemisphere have, in President Clinton’s words, "planted the seeds of a new partnership based on a common vision of a democratic, prosperous, peaceful, united hemisphere by the 21st century."
The emergence of this larger partnership need not diminish or dilute our agenda within NAFTA. The achievements of NAFTA have already set the pace for the economic integration of this hemisphere. We have every right to be proud of what we have done and what we will continue do together as partners.
Yet at the end of the day, the vision we seek to realize is not limited to this border region. Our shared vision for the transportation future of this hemisphere is of a seamless web of highways, rail lines, shipping routes and aviation corridors, stretching from the Yukon to Tierra del Fuego.
Transportation is truly the tie that binds. But more importantly, it lifts up the people of our nations, affording greater opportunity for all.
I believe that as another generation of leadership -- one hundred years in the future -- looks back upon our efforts, they too will be proud of all that we chose to undertake and all that we accomplished together.
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