U.S., APEC NATIONS SIGN FIRST MULTILATERAL AGREEMENT

U.S., APEC NATIONS SIGN FIRST MULTILATERAL AGREEMENT    In one fell swoop, U.S. transportation authorities have reached a multilateral 'open skies' aviation agreement with Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore.
   The agreement was wrapped up Wednesday at a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group in Brunei. The U.S. now has open-skies agreements with 50 countries. Open-skies agreements permit unrestricted international air service between the U.S. and each bilateral partner.
   The multilateral agreement will provide a “competition-enhancing model for future agreements,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater.
   “With this historic agreement, we are beginning to move beyond the current system of bilateral aviation agreements and into the international aviation environment…one in which groups of nations, and ultimately the entire world, agree to free trade in aviation services,” Slater said.
   With this move, pressure will likely build in Europe for the European Union to begin making headway in negotiations for a multilateral agreement between the United States and EU member states. European all-cargo carriers have voiced support for such an arrangement, called the Transatlantic Common Aviation Area.