The following is excerpted from the 1 October 2010 news release by Transport Canada.

The Honourable Stockwell Day, President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, today hosted a roundtable with key Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative (APGCI) industry stakeholders to discuss ways to build on the initiative’s success. As part of the event, the Minister tabled a copy of the APGCI’s midterm report that outlines its progress to date and the outlook for its future.

“To ensure the APGCI’s continued success, I met with those who are crucial to its future development, including shippers, railway representatives, port authorities and terminal operators. Their ideas will be valuable as we move forward in the second phase of the initiative,” said Minister Day. “The participants were pleased with the progress we have made. They emphasized how the partnership model has been the key to the APGCI’s success.”

Here are a few highlights of the report:

• Over $3.5255 billion worth of projects have been announced, including federal contributions of over $1.4 billion.
• Several key infrastructure projects have already been completed, such as the Simon Fraser Bridge in Prince George, the twinning of the Trans-Canada Highway through Banff and the opening of the Pitt River Bridge to traffic in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

Minister Day also used this opportunity to present to the participants the revamped Pacific Gateway website that features an interactive project map showing status updates on all APGCI projects; all the latest resources and publications; and a brand new promotional video...

To access the APGCI midterm report (PDF format, 3,102 KB), events calendar, project map, promotional videos or other real-time information on the initiative and its projects, please visit the website at www.pacificgateway.gc.ca.

Backgrounder information is available on the Transport Canada website at:

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/mediaroom/releases-2010-h112e-6092.htm