Moderating a panel on local governments' trade infrastructure investments, part of the World Trade Organization ministerial, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater said that the connection between transportation investment, economic prosperity, job creation and quality of life is both immediate and direct. Working with our international partners, we want this round to be about expanding prosperity and improving the quality of life and work here at home and around the globe. Secretary Slater recounted how his hometown of Marianna, Arkansas, for so long physically disconnected from the mainstream of American life, changed with the arrival of Interstate-40.
Transportation is the tie that binds.
That was also the message Secretary Slater said he took with him to South America in an October transportation and trade mission. Secretary Slater noted that he had met with officials in Curitiba, Brazil, a city renowned for its work in integrated transportation planning, and was looking to Curitiba's expertise in launching a new Bus Rapid Transit demonstration program in cities throughout the United States. Later today, Secretary Slater will address the African Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific on the need to remove barriers to trade and investment with Africa.