http://www.azmc.org/downloads/Govs_Remarks_XX_BGC_Plenary.doc
Governor's Remarks (Jane Dee Hull - Arizona)
XX Border Governors Conference
Closing Ceremony
Phoenix, Arizona
June 22, 2002
Even as the Border Governors gathered for the first time 20 years ago, they sensed the change on the horizon, the ever-accelerating movement toward a more globalized and interdependent world.
They realized that the path to prospering in this new world lies not along the path of individualism and divisiveness, but on the path of regional cooperation.
They had the vision to create the framework to make that regional cooperation possible.
That framework ? and the deep bonds of friendship and partnership that we have developed within it ? has provided the impetus for us to make this vision of regional cooperation a reality.
From the Declaration of Friendship the Governors signed in 1980 to the Joint Declaration that we signed today, our progress is plain to see.
We have established working, cooperative efforts that the Governors might never have imagined 20 years ago.
We are promoting coordinated cross-border cooperation among our state and federal law enforcement agencies, as well joint planning for our bridges and borders.
We have recognized that, just as rivers and pollution move freely across borders, so must we look beyond the border when planning on how to use and conserve our valuable natural resources.
We have joint inspection efforts to protect and expand our vast exchange of agricultural goods.
Our economic development and tourism agencies work in concert to encourage companies to locate in the border region and tourists to enjoy its wonders.
Together, we are making the residents of the border region healthier and better educated.
And we are making all of these efforts succeed through increased partnership with our federal governments. Just as Ambassadors Davidow and Bremer participate here today, last October representatives of the Border Governors participated for the first time in a meeting of the U.S.-Mexico Binational Commission.
Our federal governments, and we, as states, realize that the cooperation we have cultivated is critical to achieving our goal of making the border region safe and prosperous.
Pause ?
In sum, we have come a long way in these past 20 years toward establishing an integrated border region, a region in which community is the guiding principle.
Having come this distance, we must now ask ourselves the following: What will we accomplish in the next 20 years to come?
While we are proud of the border region, it would be disingenuous to say we don?t have problems. This has been a difficult year, one in which issues we had not anticipated have come to the surface, and issues we thought resolved have continued to vex us.
We feel a sense of uncertainty with regard to some of our greatest concerns: the changing face of our border crossings after September 11, immigration, water and many other issues.
I would like for us all to contemplate where we might be with these issues in another 20 years. But we need to think beyond present circumstances, and beyond our borders.
Borders have a way of blocking our vision not just physically, but mentally.
The beloved American poet Robert Frost wrote ironically that, "Fences make good neighbors."
That seems true at times, especially times of international turmoil.
But, as Frost writes on, "There is something that does not love a wall." Pause ?
Opening my mind and thinking ahead, I envision a region without walls.
I envision a region that is safe, friendly and efficient for all people with legitimate personal and professional business.
A region where crossing the border will be as simple as e-mailing your digitally encoded signature off your Palm Pilot to a binational database, and paying. . . .(more at .doc)
