Buttigieg also emphasized the importance of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly in the transportation sector, as noted in a release issued by the 11th APEC Transportation Ministerial Meeting and received here on Wednesday.
"We gather in the awareness that so many challenges to achieving prosperity in any economy are challenges facing every economy and often such challenges have particularly great impact on the Asia-Pacific region and demonstrate the region's importance," Secretary Buttigieg noted in his opening remarks at the meeting held in Detroit, the United States, on Tuesday (May 16).
"Pandemic-driven supply disruptions, increasingly frequent extreme weather events, and economic inequality, these challenges do not just affect one economy while sparing the others, they affect us all," he remarked.
He further noted that those challenges are often shared opportunities that grow even more promising through dialogue and exchange.
Buttigieg also underscored the importance of supply chain resilience, highlighting that several economies are continuing to deal with major challenges to global supply chains, and it is crucial to strengthen the region’s supply chains, as this will ensure “that the flow of goods that powers our economies succeeds and protect people against the higher prices that come from disruptions.”
As he welcomed his counterparts to Detroit, Secretary Buttigieg highlighted the city’s role in leading the automotive revolution and shaping the future of the automotive sector.
Secretary Buttigieg underlined the importance of a transportation system that empowers and unites communities by sharing an example of a project planned by the local community and supported by the US Department of Transportation to reconstruct and redesign a major highway in Detroit, Interstate 375, that was built in 1967 and cut off several communities from economic opportunities in the city.
"With help from US$100 million in funding from our department, the state and the city are acting to replace this highway with the boulevard that connects neighborhoods with safer walking, bicycling, and driving and fosters more economic growth that makes everyone better off," he remarked.
The two-day dialogue will hear how ministers work to improve the functionality and resiliency of supply chains and how to better connect economy-level efforts to the APEC goals of regional connectivity to drive economic growth, opportunity, and job creation.
Ministers will also discuss specific efforts and measures to accelerate low and zero-emission transportation technologies in the region, including the transition to electric vehicles, uptake of sustainable aviation fuels, and the rollout of green maritime technologies and fuels—all of which can create good-paying jobs while harnessing innovation.
"Detroit is known for putting the world on four wheels. It is also the city where auto unions took form and helped to create a middle class of workers that remains a backbone of US economic prosperity," Buttigieg remarked.
"We carry that lesson forward to today as we plan for the future,” he concluded.
“I know we will approach these coming days with openness and with ambitions to match the scale of opportunity and transportation, and I am deeply optimistic about the work we will do to make our people's lives safer, fairer, and more prosperous," he affirmed.
Earlier, on Monday, APEC Transportation Ministers discussed electric vehicle financing with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan as well as with leaders representing the auto industry, workers, the charging and banking industry, and the Federal Highway Administration.
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Reporter: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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