Robert Wexler

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 60th anniversary of Voice of America's Ukrainian Service, which is on December 11, 2009.

As members of Congress know, Voice of America is the largest U.S. international broadcaster and plays a critically important role globally, broadcasting 1,500 hours a week of programming through various media forms spanning news, information, and educational and cultural topics, and reaching an audience of over 130 million people worldwide. Since 1942, Voice of America has filled a critical gap in regions of the world where freedom of the press is limited or does not exist.

Today, Voice of America facilitates the free-flow of information globally. It is particularly important in Ukraine, where Voice of America will be celebrating its 60 years of service.

Voice of America has been essential to advancing democratic freedoms through the free-flow of information and supporting the development of democratic institutions in Eastern Europe, including Ukraine. On the front lines of international broadcasting, VOA has provided a critical outlet for the dissemination of free, uncensored news and information throughout Ukraine in multiple languages and formats. Today close to five million Ukrainians access Voice of America's services each week. VOA's Ukrainian broadcasts have also provided valuable information to the Ukrainian people as they continue their political, economic, and democratic reform efforts and build a stronger civil society.

Today there are still many countries that do not enjoy freedom of the Press, which is an essential component of a functioning and successful democracy. Unconscionably there are governments that continue to deny their populations this basic liberty, creating conditions in which media and members of the press face censorship, intimidation, persecution, or far worse.

Voice of America is essential to American and international efforts to change the dynamics of press freedom and human rights. To that end, I want to praise VOA and its dedicated staff that have worked diligently in Ukraine, and around the globe, to promote and facilitate the free and unfettered flow of information, opinions, and ideas.

Once again, I commend Voice of America on its 60 years of promoting freedom of information in Ukraine. I also want to congratulate VOA Ukrainian Service for its efforts and leadership in successfully fulfilling VOA's core mission to ``promote freedom and democracy and to enhance understanding through multimedia communication of accurate, objective, balanced news, information, and other programming about America and the world to audiences overseas.''

Madam Speaker, as a founding co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Global Road Safety, I rise today to praise the highly encouraging efforts and outcomes of the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, which took place in Moscow, Russia, on November 19 and 20, 2009.

This important conference was the result of a five-year effort by a global community of stakeholders from multilateral and bilateral institutions, from governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and from academia and civil society. These groups are dedicated to raising international awareness and to mobilizing a global response to advancing road safety.

Hosted by President Dmitry Medvedev and the Russian Federation, this conference brought together transportation ministers, health ministers, non-governmental organizations, and experts from across the globe and reflected a growing understanding among nations to seek opportunities to cooperate on tackling one of the world's most severe problems today--the epidemic of road crash deaths and injuries.

The statistics for this epidemic are staggering: 1.3 million people are killed annually on the world's roads and 50 million more are injured. The number of deaths each year is the equivalent of 10 jumbo jets crashing every day, and the toll is continuing to increase dramatically. At the current rate of growth, road crashes will be the fifth leading cause of death overall by the year 2030, and the first leading cause of death for children aged five and older by 2020, rivaling the top and often more well-known global health epidemics.

Road crashes do not discriminate by age, class, gender, race, or nationality. Nor do they respect the bounds of geography. In the United States alone the death toll is an estimated 44,000 people annually, and road crashes have become the leading cause of death among Hispanics under 34 years of age. Meanwhile, in some African countries, up to half of all hospital surgical beds are occupied by road crash victims, while in others the fatalities rank second only to HIV/AIDS.

Along with the unfathomable human cost of road crashes, there are also grave economic costs to individuals, families, and communities. It is estimated that road crashes cost $518 billion globally each year. In developing countries, road crashes have a dramatic impact on their fragile economies, costing an estimated $100 billion, and often exceeding the total amount received by these countries in development assistance. Furthermore, road crashes place a preventable strain on first responder services, health care services, and health insurance services, as many victims require extensive, and expensive, critical care, as well as follow-up care and rehabilitation. In countries where a primary bread-winner is killed or injured, or must care for the injured, this can destroy livelihoods and devastate communities.

The First Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Moscow addressed each of these issues, as well as many other key components of the road safety epidemic, in an intensive two days of plenary sessions and panel discussions during which high level delegates from various nations and organizations shared experiences, ideas, and best practices.

I would like to commend the U.S. delegation, which included representation from the Department of State, the Department of Transportation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other partner state and federal agencies, for its robust participation and high level representation throughout the Conference. As the first global forum for road safety, this conference was truly an historic event. I am pleased that the U.S. delegation took a strong leadership role in addressing U.S. road safety goals and objectives, as well as in working constructively with the Conference to establish new benchmarks for best practices and road traffic injury prevention, as announced in the Moscow Declaration.

The Moscow Declaration reinforces governmental leadership and guidance on road safety, sets regional casualty reduction targets, and offers a new framework for international cooperation on global road safety. It declares the decade 2011-2020 as the ``Decade of Action for Road Safety'' with the goal of stabilizing and reducing the forecast level of global road deaths. Finally, the Declaration encourages the U.N. General Assembly to assent to the goals and policies it proposes.

I would like to acknowledge the hard work of all those who helped make the First Ministerial Conference on Global Road Safety a success. I applaud the Russian Federation for taking the initiative of hosting this critical conference in Moscow. I would also like to congratulate the U.S. delegation and other participants from around the world for having demonstrated a promising commitment to the important goal of reducing road deaths on a global scale.

I and the rest of the Congressional Caucus on Global Road Safety look forward to maintaining a fruitful dialogue with the Russian Federation, other governments, the international NGO community and other organizations, with the aim of finding further ways to improve road safety, and I am hopeful that the Congress as a whole will continue to do so as well. Finally, I encourage the Obama Administration and the American delegation to continue their strong leadership in ensuring that

the casualty reduction targets and the road safety initiatives detailed in the Moscow Declaration are accomplished, both at home and abroad.

Madam Speaker, Ms. Granger, Mr. Whitfield and myself, as Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on U.S.-Turkish Relations and Turkish Americans, Turkey Caucus, want to welcome Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the United States. We believe the Prime Minister's visit reaffirms the longstanding strategic partnership between the United States and Turkey, and is a unique opportunity to enhance and foster economic, political, and security relations.

As many of our Congressional colleagues know, our NATO ally Turkey valiantly stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States and European partners throughout the Cold War. Over the past 20 years, Turkey has been integral to American and NATO efforts in the Balkans and has worked to enhance peace and stability in Central Asia and the Middle East. Turkey has also played a critical leadership role along with America and the international community in both Afghanistan and Iraq. We are hopeful that Turkey will continue to play a leading role alongside the United States, P5+1 partners and the international community with respect to Iran's nuclear program.

We also want to highlight and praise the historic steps recently taken by Prime Minister Erdogan and his government to normalize Turkey's relations with its neighbor Armenia. With the support of the United States, both countries on October 10, 2009 signed two protocols to achieve this goal. We believe that, with the continuing support of the United States and the international community, these protocols will provide a new impetus for the solution of other conflicts in the South Caucasus region.

Many of our colleagues appreciate the growing importance of our strategic relationship with Turkey which was described by President Obama during his visit to Turkey in April as a ``Model Partnership.'' We are heartened by the fact that the Turkey Caucus, which began over 8 years ago, now numbers one hundred members.

The growth of the Turkey Caucus is a testament to the importance that members of Congress place on U.S.-Turkish relations and a recognition of the longstanding partnership between our two nations. Again, we welcome Prime Minister Erdogan to Washington, and believe that his discussions with President Obama and the Administration will only serve to strengthen the U.S.-Turkish partnership as we face difficult global challenges.