Speeches

Asian Aerospace 2002 Reception by Franklin L. Lavin - U.S. Ambassador to Singapore

February 28, 2002

Ladies and Gentlemen - thank you for joining me this evening as we celebrate the success of Asian Aerospace 2002. Let me just mention a few figures:

Asian Aerospace involves over 900 exhibitors from 37 countries, and over 200 of these exhibitors are American.

We are told there will be some 25,000 visitors. And there are some 120 official delegations, most of which - it appears - managed to get my personal phone number.

To our Singapore hosts, we say: thank you for such a splendid job in organizing the exhibition. From the administrative side to the security requirements, you did a superb job in running Asian Aerospace and we value your professionalism and your friendship.

To the American companies present tonight, we say: thank you for coming. You offer the finest products and services in the world, but there is no substitute for showing up and working directly with the client. Your customers have only one request - to give them the best there is. The more we listen, and the more we meet with them, the easier it is to reach that goal. Face-to-face beats fax-to-fax.

To the US Department of Defense and the over 200 servicemen and women who participated: Your fine work means that well over half of the equipment on display is from the U.S. And it also means we have this marvelous PACAF band here tonight. Thank you for the weeks and months of work you put into making sure we could exhibit our wares.

To the US Embassy team: We have an extraordinary group of men and women who worked to make this week a success, led by Col Gray Donnelly of our Office of Defense Cooperation, Jon Bensky, our Commercial Counselor, and Capt Carl Soderholm our Defense Attache. I think these teams have done a superb job - but there is someone here who does not feel the same, who does not feel they have gotten the support they need - please call me. We want everyone here to leave Singapore even happier then when they arrived.

And let me finish with a few words for the most important people in the room, our clients, customers and friends who have joined us here tonight.

You know, TV viewers got to watch the finest athletes in the world compete over the past few weeks at the Winter Olympics. The men and women of the U.S. military are frequently involved in a far more serious competition - one that is not a spectator sport. When our men and women go into combat, there is no silver medal and there is no bronze medal. There is only a prize for first place, and failure to attain it can mean paying the ultimate price.

We have no alternative except to make sure that our troops have the finest equipment available. For some countries, that is a slogan. For us, it is the difference between life and death.

Ladies and gentlemen, the equipment and systems you see represented in this room tonight are battle-tested. They help keep our nation and much of the world at peace. At Asian Aerospace, this is our Olympic team. These are the winners of the Gold medal.

The companies here and the military personnel are too polite to brag. So let me brag a little for them on three points. First, No country in the world is making the R & D commitment the U.S. is making. Our people will make the finest product in the world, and dedicate the rest of their lives to making that product obsolete.

Second, no country will offer you the interoperability that the people in this room can offer you. Whether it is American pilots manning Saudi planes only hours after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, or whether it is a peacetime helo exercise in the Straits of Malacca, the easier our services can work together, the better off we all are.

Third, the United States is proud to be your neighbor. As another country on the Pacific Rim, we know a little bit about this part of the world. We often look at matters much in the same way as countries of East Asia. Other countries show up and hope for a sale. The United States is here because of a relationship and a commitment that is enduring.

So work with us. Be our partner. Put the finest engineering and manufacturing skills in the world to work on your behalf. Let us show you what we can do. Let us work with you to solve the challenges you see.

Thank you for coming here tonight.