July 10, 1998
Washington - Following is the text of U.S. Secretary Of Transportation Rodney E. Slater's remarks at a flight simulator facility on July 9, 1998 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as prepared for delivery:
This is a great day for Ethiopia and for America.
The agreement we just signed marks a new day for Ethiopian Airlines and the Boeing Company. This $100,000 grant by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency will expand the market for these flight simulators and maximize their use.
When these Boeing 757 and 767 simulators are certified by our Federal Aviation Administration as provided by this grant, they will be the only ones outside the United States. I am sure they will become very popular. Pilot training is absolutely critical if we are to make the skies over Africa safe.
These flight simulators will help. They also will benefit American industry and workers by encouraging African airlines to buy U.S. commercial aircraft. I see great opportunity for our companies because many African nations want to improve their aviation systems.
We are fast becoming a world without borders. Safe and secure air travel is needed for integrating Africa into the global economy. It will increase trade, attract investment, develop industry -- such as tourism -- and help tie the nations of Africa together.
I am in Africa to advance the Safe Skies for Africa Initiative announced by President Clinton last April during his trip to the continent. We will be holding regional meetings in Harare and Dakar to develop plans for doing what Ethiopia has already done.
As of June 2, Ethiopia has what we call Category 1 status. You now meet the international standards of aviation safety and security. As a result, people can now fly directly from Addis Ababa to Washington, D.C.
That is an achievement we hope will be repeated throughout Africa in the years to come.
In closing, let me again say how delighted I am to be here. There are more than 30 million Americans who trace their roots to Africa, and I am proud to be one.
For I know that after many years of darkness a new day is here. Perhaps President Clinton said it best in Accra When he said his dream for Africa was that we could do the right things "so that 100 years from now, your grandchildren and mine will look back and say this was the beginning of a new African renaissance."
Indeed, the best is yet to come.
Thank you.