we don't have multilateral ftas, we don't even particularly like bilateral ftas. the only fta we have in the region, i believe, is with vietnam and singapore. anyway, i think we should give some thought to an asean-wide fta. the other is new, it's kind of a mull the city lateral of all of its members, from what i understand. it's not a high caliber, it's not a tpp kind of institution. it wasn't really intended to be one. but the u.s. should certainly look to join in that as well. long story short, these organizations, existing ones, the better. including aiib, i would note. so the u.s. has gone literally to the table and be part of the solution to regional integration, economic integration not outside, you know, outside these groupings. so good question. thank you. >> okay. next question is from alexandra. the question is there's certainly areas where the u.s. must compete with china. however, the u.s. must also find ways to cooperate on some complex issues such as climate change. yet the trump administration's withdrawal from the paris accords created a climate l

that is the focus of our work to ensure that we have fta folks very well briefed each step of the way as well as, i hope, also working with director lipkin to look at how to involve the state as everyone may be reevaluating our potential for the region and the state with a not administration. the proposals coming forth from the secretary will be very exciting. our initial report is being planned for your next meeting in february. i look forward to preparing more detailed update at that time. the other supporting task, certainly the outreach that executive director mentioned. we are happy to also work with our m.t.c. representatives who will be helping to the outreach to other commissioners. there is high interest in this project. if you have been following. it is the streets blog article that came out this week in connection with our chair mandleman elected earlier on tuesday. i want to reiterate we appreciate the cover age. one of the things i want to make clear in the article this is the tjta and that is our work. anybody in the audience that might have been confused, the article me

i just wanted to spend a moment talking about the fta process if we could go to the next slide jason. in the new starts process there are basically three major steps that one goes through the project goes through. project development, engineering, and full funding grant agreement negotiations. we hope to get into project development which is that first official phase late next summer, perhaps in the early fall. and this is when we would complete all of the design work to define our project so it is subsequent to that phasing decision that we're asking of you and planning to do next august. now dtx has a leg up on many projects that go into project development because we have a record of decision, a completed environmental process, and also, obviously, strong support from the board of directors and the rail program partners. project development however is a two year process under fta regulations and we want to be sure that we can complete all of the work that is in project development including being able to demonstrate that we the region, can produce 30% of the nonfederal share of the

i just wanted to spend a moment talking about the fta process if we could go to the next slide jason. in the new starts process there are basically three major steps that one goes through the project goes through. project development, engineering, and full funding grant agreement negotiations. we hope to get into project development which is that first official phase late next summer, perhaps in the early fall. and this is when we would complete all of the design work to define our project so it is subsequent to that phasing decision that we're asking of you and planning to do next august. now dtx has a leg up on many projects that go into project development because we have a record of decision, a completed environmental process, and also, obviously, strong support from the board of directors and the rail program partners. project development however is a two year process under fta regulations and we want to be sure that we can complete all of the work that is in project development including being able to demonstrate that we the region, can produce 30% of the nonfederal share of the

things get done on trade and there's political consensus whether or not it's in the mix, whether it's fta and we seen nothing happen and sometimes i feel the europeans have a little bit of a fetish around multilateralism. that means not an end. i know an economist make the overhead of the we ought to be more open regionalism, not agreements if necessary, if it's going to help us raise the bar among like-minded countries, create standards particularly around new issues of the economy, data and things of that sort and not let our preoccupation divided institutional by the wto or a concept msn become an unnecessary obstacle. >> anybody else have any other thoughts? we have a question from the audience. >> i am so much in agreement, i just wonder if we really like the wto, whether the current context, capable of dealing with the issues that did not exist when it was formed or even as it evolves. nobody knows how to submit these questions which is probably the easy one. data control privacy, those are issues we never even considered with the wto the administration has put the conversation on t

going with the consortium allows us to still participate in all of the fta competitive requirements. it allows us to get the buying power of a much larger purchase. we do not do business with the state of georgia, when you all know. georgia is only the contract mechanism here. we are purchasing the buses from a southern california company that meets all of the city and county requirements including being a 12b vendor. the other benefit of the consortium is we can have vehicles here within 15 to 18 months versus 2 to 2 and a half years for a typical procurement where you go through the design processes. we do need 30-foot buses. they are an important part of our fleet because of the tight turns. we currently are not running our community routes, but those changes are temporary and related to covid. we do anticipate the community routes coming back. if we do make any changes to those routes, they would have a robust public process, but we do think that the 30-foot bus purchase is important now even though the routes aren't running so we are moving towards having them in place. other be

it is not in the peer— fta briefing document.public domain and can be examined i documents. that is in the public. domain and can be examined and documents. that is in the public - domain and can be examined and to summarise your review, you think it is desirable that the data should be in the public domain so they can be looked at by peers? i am grateful for that. looked at by peers? i am grateful forthat. let looked at by peers? i am grateful for that. let me turn to my colleague now.— for that. let me turn to my colleague now. professor, can i start with _ colleague now. professor, can i start with you. _ colleague now. professor, can i start with you, please. - colleague now. professor, can i start with you, please. i - colleague now. professor, can i start with you, please. i want i colleague now. professor, can i| start with you, please. i want to talk about — start with you, please. i want to talk about the _ start with you, please. i want to talk about the gc _ start with you, please. i want to talk about the cc vi _ star

that is the focus of our work to ensure that we have fta folks very well briefed each step of the wayll as, i hope, also working with director lipkin to look at how to involve the state as everyone may be reevaluating our potential for the region and the state with a not administration. the proposals coming forth from the secretary will be very exciting. our initial report is being planned for your next meeting in february. i look forward to preparing more detailed update at that time. the other supporting task, certainly the outreach that executive director mentioned. we are happy to also work with our m.t.c. representatives who will be helping to the outreach to other commissioners. there is high interest in this project. if you have been following. it is the streets blog article that came out this week in connection with our chair mandleman elected earlier on tuesday. i want to reiterate we appreciate the cover age. one of the things i want to make clear in the article this is the tjta and that is our work. anybody in the audience that might have been confused, the article mentione

that is the focus of our work to ensure that we have fta folks very well briefed each step of the way as well as, i hope, also working with director lipkin to look at how to involve the state as everyone may be reevaluating our potential for the region and the state with a not administration. the proposals coming forth from the secretary will be very exciting. our initial report is being planned for your next meeting in february. i look forward to preparing more detailed update at that time. the other supporting task, certainly the outreach that executive director mentioned. we are happy to also work with our m.t.c. representatives who will be helping to the outreach to other commissioners. there is high interest in this project. if you have been following. it is the streets blog article that came out this week in connection with our chair mandleman elected earlier on tuesday. i want to reiterate we appreciate the cover age. one of the things i want to make clear in the article this is the tjta and that is our work. anybody in the audience that might have been confused, the article me

if confirmed you will oversee the seat that the mission that the un has on the fta and as you know thatorganization serves as the world's principal multilateral provider of family planning and reproductive health services and the largest global provider of maternal healthcare and humanitarian emergencies. despite this the previous administration used unfounded claims to deny u.s. funding for un fpa. if confirmed will you commit to working with commit to working with the office of management and budget to expeditiously release the funding congress appropriated in december for fiscal year 2021? >> absolutely, senator. >> thank you. as you think about this position will you also commit to working to restore american leadership in addressing values around empowering women and helping to ensure that women have access to a full range of reproductive health services that they need if they will play a significant role and to advance their education and participate in the economy, support their families and communities and all of that is related to women's healthcare. >> senator, i can commit to

going with the consortium allows us to still participate in all of the fta competitive requirements. it allows us to get the buying power of a much larger purchase. we do not do business with the state of georgia, when you all know. georgia is only the contract mechanism here. we are purchasing the buses from a southern california company that meets all of the city and county requirements including being a 12b vendor. the other benefit of the consortium is we can have vehicles here within 15 to 18 months versus 2 to 2 and a half years for a typical procurement where you go through the design processes. we do need 30-foot buses. they are an important part of our fleet because of the tight turns. we currently are not running our community routes, but those changes are temporary and related to covid. we do anticipate the community routes coming back. if we do make any changes to those routes, they would have a robust public process, but we do think that the 30-foot bus purchase is important now even though the routes aren't running so we are moving towards having them in place. other be

going with the consortium allows us to still participate in all of the fta competitive requirements. it allows us to get the buying power of a much larger purchase. we do not do business with the state of georgia, when you all know. georgia is only the contract mechanism here. we are purchasing the buses from a southern california company that meets all of the city and county requirements including being a 12b vendor. the other benefit of the consortium is we can have vehicles here within 15 to 18 months versus 2 to 2 and a half years for a typical procurement where you go through the design processes. we do need 30-foot buses. they are an important part of our fleet because of the tight turns. we currently are not running our community routes, but those changes are temporary and related to covid. we do anticipate the community routes coming back. if we do make any changes to those routes, they would have a robust public process, but we do think that the 30-foot bus purchase is important now even though the routes aren't running so we are moving towards having them in place. other be

going with the consortium allows us to still participate in all of the fta competitive requirements.business with the state of georgia, when you all know. georgia is only the contract mechanism here. we are purchasing the buses from a southern california company that meets all of the city and county requirements including being a 12b vendor. the other benefit of the consortium is we can have vehicles here within 15 to 18 months versus 2 to 2 and a half years for a typical procurement where you go through the design processes. we do need 30-foot buses. they are an important part of our fleet because of the tight turns. we currently are not running our community routes, but those changes are temporary and related to covid. we do anticipate the community routes coming back. if we do make any changes to those routes, they would have a robust public process, but we do think that the 30-foot bus purchase is important now even though the routes aren't running so we are moving towards having them in place. other benefits every placing now is that it is very cost-effective. we are able to for