In addition to breaking attendance
and exhibitor records, APTA's recent 1999 Annual Meeting and EXPO in Orlando, Fla.,
registered a number of "firsts" in the international arena.
For example, more than 300 participants attended from more
than 50 countries, and this APTA Annual Meeting was the first one at which APTA has
partnered with the World Bank.
The World Bank sponsored conference interpreters who
translated to and from Spanish for several key sessions that brought together senior
managers from Latin America, and organized a session on lessons drawn from new models of
cooperation with the private sector considered to be of special interest to APTA's
Business Members.
The meeting program also included an unusual number of
well-attended sessions focusing on overseas experience, such as:
a discussion of innovative operations by chief executive
officers of three of the world's most heavily-used metropolitan rail systems known to
operate in the black;
experience gathered by participants in international
transit study missions, which has led to decisions on the application of new products and
processes;
a session on "how to do business abroad" for APTA
Business Members, sponsored by three federal agencies; and
review of an emerging trend in car sharing, reported from
western Europe, and its beginning applications in North America.
Briefings and meetings were held during the Annual Meeting
with separate delegations comprising transit executives from four Latin American countries
and from Israel, sponsored by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, involving more than
100 U.S. business participants.
Also in Orlando, a Resource Guide on doing business abroad
was released, aimed especially at the smaller and medium company market. The publication
of the guide was undertaken as a jointly sponsored project between APTA and the Federal
Transit Administration. Copies of the guide are available free by contacting APTA's Rose
Gandee at telephone (202) 496-4889 or by e-mail at rgandee@apta.com.
As reported in the Oct. 25 issue of Passenger Transport,
APTA President William W. Millar and Ailton Brasiliense Pires, executive director of
Brazil's National Public Transit Association, also used the backdrop of the APTA Annual
Meeting to sign a collaborative agreement approved by both associations. Exchanges of
information and participation in respective major conferences are foreseen under the
accord.
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