For Immediate Release
Thursday, October 12, 2000
Contact: David Smallen
Tel.: 202-366-5568
BTS 14-00
Secretary Slater Announces Plan to Cooperate On Statistics with Mexican Transportation Agency
U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today announced an agreement with the government of Mexico that will enhance both nations= statistical capabilities and promote improved transportation statistics and analysis.
AThis agreement will further President Clinton and Vice President Gore=s vision of regional cooperation and a global transportation system for the 21st century,@ Secretary Slater said. AWe are taking a step beyond the many working relationships we have established in implementing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with this new partnership that will stand as a model for cooperation on statistics with other nations in the future.@
The Memorandum of Cooperation was signed by Secretary Slater and Secretary Carlos Ruiz Sacristan of the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation of Mexico. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) will be the lead agency in the U.S. Department of Transportation on the statistical exchanges with Mexico.
AThe growth in trade and passenger travel between the United States and Mexico under NAFTA has created a greater need for more information about transportation in our two countries and for more cooperation on transportation statistics and analysis,@ Dr. Ashish Sen, BTS Director, said. AWe will be working with our colleagues in Mexico to improve the information that is available for transportation decision-making.@
The agreement creates a Joint Working Group, which is scheduled to begin work within 60 days. The two agencies are interested in cooperating through exchange of experience in technical and scientific areas, exchange of observers and staff, and coordination and planning to further ongoing work in the area of North American transportation statistics and related initiatives.
In 1998, Secretary Slater hosted the Western Hemisphere Transportation Ministerial in New Orleans at which a Ministerial Declaration recognized the important role of transportation statistics and information, and during which the ministers agreed to develop a Western Hemisphere Statistics System. Today=s agreement follows the creation of the North American Transportation Statistics Interchange by the United States, Canada and Mexico and the development of the North American Statistics project.
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