This is an excellent example of how an effective partnership between the State Department and local, state and federal officials can yield tangible benefits for a local community. Just last week some of my aviation negotiators met with U.K. counterparts in London to discuss further liberalization of our aviation relationship. We've not yet achieved a breakthrough, but I can assure you we are just as committed as ever to gaining new rights for American companies and communities. There are now five daily flights from North Carolina to Canada. As international traffic has grown, major international aviation networks have sprung up in other Southeastern cities like Atlanta and Miami.
Aviation is an area in which our diplomacy yields tangible, practical and noticeable fruits.
Our efforts make it easier, cheaper and safer for people to travel internationally. And they allow American aviation companies to compete in overseas markets. As I come to the end of my talk, I'd need to raise my concern about diplomatic readiness. Diplomacy and the programs that support it are the first line of defense against threats to American prosperity. As globalization makes the world a smaller place, events that we could once ignore can now affect us directly.