Speeches

Country Briefing for U.S. Exhibitors
Remarks by Ambassador Patricia L. Herbold
Regent Hotel
February 20, 2006

Thank you, George, for that gracious introduction.  It’s a great pleasure to join you all this morning.  As a resident of the state of Washington, living near Seattle before coming to Singapore, I appreciate the importance of the aerospace industry.  As the United States Ambassador, I am delighted to support your participation in Asian Aerospace 2006.

My message to you this morning is simple:  the United States is here to stay in Asia.

Singapore is a wonderful place to do business.  You already know that, or you wouldn’t be here for the Aerospace Show or joining me for coffee and breakfast this morning.  It’s a long flight to Asia from Seattle, a trip I made 2 ½ months ago, or from anywhere else in the United States.  Indeed, I think it’s fair to say that the toughest thing about doing business in this region is conquering the distance across the Pacific.

You came here for a good reason:  Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region in the world for aerospace, and our strong and growing economic and commercial relationships in the region reflect the United States’ commitment to Asia.

Nowhere is that commitment more prominent than in our relations with Singapore.  Two years ago, the Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Singapore entered into force.  This ground-breaking agreement was the first FTA in Asia for us and was the most comprehensive FTA the U.S. had ever undertaken in terms of the breadth and extent of commitments.  The agreement set the standard for our later FTA with Australia and for FTAs now being negotiated, such as the one under discussion with Thailand.

So what do we gain by having an FTA with Singapore?  Well, for one thing, the FTA has been good for U.S. business.  Let me share a few statistics.  In 2004, U.S. exports to Singapore rose by 18 percent -- a $3 billion increase.  In 2005, U.S. exports to Singapore increased by an additional 5 percent.  There have been other  tangible -- but less easily measured -- benefits.  For example, the strengthening of Singapore's intellectual property protection regime means that U.S. businesses can trade and invest here in very high-end products and be confident that their intellectual property will be safeguarded.

The strong defense relationship between the United States and Singapore is forged out of shared strategic concerns and a long history of cooperation.  Last July, President Bush and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee signed a Strategic Framework Agreement on security and defense.  The SFA expands our bilateral cooperation in areas such as counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, joint military exercises, training, policy dialogues, and defense technology.

I know defense technology is important to many of you here this morning.  I am confident the SFA will give a strong push to bilateral defense cooperation.  In the coming years, the SFA's encouragement of even greater interoperability and technology cooperation can greatly benefit your industry.

Turning from Singapore to the region, I'd like to touch on a few highlights.  First, our private and public sectors have found that  operating on a regional basis pays off.  Many of the 1,500 U.S. companies operating in Singapore have regional responsibilities and find operating from a regional platform an efficient and effective way to do business.  This gives Singapore one of its nicknames -- "gateway to Southeast Asia."

On the U.S. government side. we also interact with countries of Asia on a regional basis.  Key organizations in this area include the Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).  As many of you may know, APEC groups the economies from around the Pacific Rim.  President Bush attended the 2005 leaders meeting in Busan, Korea and plans to attend the 2006 meeting in Hanoi.  His participation sends a strong message that is more than symbolic of our commitment to the region.  It helps move the group ahead in areas that encourage commerce such as customs harmonization, security of the supply chain, and protecting our airliners from shoulder-launched missiles.

ASEAN is the predominant regional organization in this part of the Asia-Pacific.   You can expect to see a quantitative and qualitative uptick in our engagement with ASEAN in the coming year.  After the gloom of the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s and the distress of the SARS outbreak two years ago, the mood in the region is very upbeat these days.  Recent elections and new leaders in many Southeast Asian countries have brought with them new programs and new opportunities.  When President Bush met with ASEAN leaders last fall, they issued a joint vision statement for an enhanced partnership between the United States and ASEAN based on three strategic pillars:  political-military, social-cultural, and economic.

For the economic pillar, we hope to translate the vision into action to help U.S. business in the region by signing a region-wide ASEAN-U.S. Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, known as TIFA (tee-fah).   TIFAs are a consultative mechanism for discussing issues affecting trade and investment, often letting us nip problem issues in the bud before they get too big, the goal being to eventually enter into free trade agreements.  In this region, we have bilateral TIFAs with Thailand, Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines.  An ASEAN-wide TIFA would be an exciting development that could accelerate the region's economic integration and reduce barriers to our exports and investment.

I’m proud that the United States has the largest presence at Asian Aerospace 2006, with more than 150 exhibitors.  Overall, there are more than 30 countries represented this year, with approximately 750 exhibitors in all.  At the 2004 Asian Aerospace, the exhibitors concluded more than $3.5 billion in sales.  I hope the companies in this room will do the lion’s share of business this year.

My Foreign Commercial Service team, led by George Ruffner, is here to support you.  If there’s any way we can help you, please let us know.  We’re glad you’re here, and wish you tremendous success this week.   I am happy to take your questions or open this up for discussion.  Thank you.