Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele held bilateral discussions with the US Secretary of Transportation Mr Ray LaHood on Friday, 4 May 2012 at the US Department of Transport (US DoT) offices in Washington DC.
Cooperation on issues relating to road safety, aviation, transport infrastructure funding, public transport and skills development was discussed at the meeting.
Minister Ndebele requested Secretary LaHood to assist South Africa, by mobilising financial and other resources for transport training and related capacity building initiatives.
In response, Secretary LaHood said the US DoT was working on a transport training programme for South Africa, in particular for government officials as well as youth and women.
“Our countries share a rich and deep friendship. We must ensure that transportation investment generates economic recovery. South Africa is a key transportation and economic hub. Minister Ndebele is a world leader in road safety. We will, therefore, continue to share friendship and cooperation,” said LaHood.
Ndebele added: “We must share experiences on road safety because in South Africa we have major challenges with regard to road crashes, where we lose thousands of lives every month. This has seen us come up with several targeted strategies to reduce road carnage. We also want to partner with the US on training and development in the fields of maritime, aviation and road safety.”
The US DoT and SA DoT have established a Transportation Working Group, which held its third meeting in Washington DC on 4 May 2012, to take these issues forward.
In September 2011, the South African and US governments signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on Transport. The MoC serves as an umbrella agreement to incorporate sector specific initiatives, including future cooperation in the areas of maritime, rail, aviation, infrastructure as well as training and research technology.
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