Pena off on Asia sales trip

Pena off on Asia sales trip

WASHINGTON (Reuter): Transportation Secretary Federico Pena
leaves on Sunday on a 17-day sales trip to Asia to try to help
U.S. firms win a share of the billions of dollars Asians will be
spending on new construction.

His trip will include the first U.S. trade mission to Vietnam
since Washington restored diplomatic ties with Hanoi last August
as well as stops in Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines,
Indonesia, Malaysia and the Portuguese colony of Macao.

Pena told a U.S.-ASEAN Council meeting on Thursday that he and
other U.S. officials are working to open trade in the emerging
nations and searching out new markets.

"Because when there is a global level playing field," he said,
"U.S. companies do well."

The members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are
Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines,
Vietnam and Brunei.

In Indonesia, he said, with its 200 million people and
thousands of islands, transportation is the key to economic
growth. "For many American companies," Pena added, "this is their
hottest market in the region."

Pena said that Asia with a growth rate of more than nine
percent a year is the fastest growing market anywhere. It now
takes one-third of all American exports.

U.S. airlines will soon be generating more revenue from
Pacific routes than Atlantic routes, he added.

Pena will be going with officials from some two dozen top U.S.
firms to try to reap contracts for spending on Asian construction
that include airports, highways and railroads.

He said East Asian and Pacific economies are expected by the
World Bank to spend some $600 billion on transportation projects
over the next decade.

Pena said Vietnam is just starting to rebuild after the war,
adding "they will need to build new roads, airports, ports and
rail systems. And these are projects in which America has a
competitive edge."

He said that in Bangkok he will meet with his counterpart to
look at a number of projects, including a second airport, a new
expressway and a high speed railway from Bangkok to the eastern
seaboard.

Pena said there are similar potentials in the other nations he
is to visit.

He said he would be taking up aviation issues also, including
discussing liberalized air services with Hong Kong, the
Philippines and Macao.

Pena added that in Bangkok, he hoped to renew talks to reach
an improved air services accord with Thailand.

Discussing U.S.-Japanese air ties, Pena reiterated his goal of
resolving their dispute over cargo traffic before meeting any
Japanese bid to revise their passenger accord, which Japan has
said is weighted in America'a favor.