Rodney E. Slater Secretary of Transportation, U. S. Department of Transportation know many of you have traveled great distances to be here. I To me, that shows not only your dedication to the cause, but demonstrates how very important transportation safety is becoming throughout the world. So I am very thankful to the main organizers of this third annual conference -- all of whom are from Sweden: Dr. Hans von Holst of the Royal Institute of Technology; Dr. Ake Nygren of the Karolinska Institute; Dr. Ake E. Andersson of the Institute for Futures Studies; and finally, Dr. Arne Witt16v and Lars Anell from AB Volvo. And let me give a special welcome to our friends from Africa. I will be visiting a number of African nations in January. And while my main mission is to promote trade and investment with the United States, we will be talking about safety, too. Airline safety, for example, is a big concern, as Africa grows and prospers and the demand for air travel expands. We discussed it during recent meetings of the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal several weeks ago. And we will do so again during my trip. plan to talk about how my department can help the Also, we many nations of Africa improve highway safety. Africa relies heavily on road transportation. But highway fatalities are very high. And the economic costs are very steep, especially for Africa's fragile, emerging v market economies.