Anchorage -- On September 16, Senate President Drue Pearce (R-Anchorage) and Representative Gail Phillips (R-Homer), Chair of the House Committee on Economic Development and Tourism, will lead a delegation of Alaska government and business leaders to Alberta and the Northwest Territories in Canada to establish formal relations designed to increase economic development between our regions.

"Over the years it has become increasingly apparent that Alaska and Canada share several economic priorities such as arctic transportation and housing, developing our oil and mineral resources, and exploring opportunities to develop and transport our natural gas," said Phillips. "Working together will strengthen our socioeconomic ties and dramatically increase our progress on these priorities."

Alaska and its Canadian counterparts are developing a Memorandum of Understanding that will detail future relations between our regions and deal with the areas of economic development and intergovernmental relations. The Memorandum will focus on areas of mutual interest such as oil and gas exploration and development, construction, housing, transportation, wildlife co-management, culture, tourism and education.

International cooperation and discussions on one of these priorities, Arctic housing, has led to specific results in developing Low Income Elderly Housing in Stebbins, Alaska. The project marks the first of many collaborative efforts between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation and the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation.

"For eight years the legislature, through our Majority Office of International Trade Policy, has explored and developed close ties with our important international neighbors, Canada and the Russian Federation," said Pearce. "We have enjoyed a formal relationship with the people of the Yukon for over 16 years. This upcoming trip culminates several years' efforts to develop similar protocols with our neighbors in Alberta and the Northwest Territories."

The upcoming event is the latest in a series of vital exchanges between our regions. Last March, Minister Jim Antoine, former Premier of Northwest Territories, led a delegation to Juneau and presented legislators with a draft protocol. In mid July, another delegation from the National Energy Board of Canada, the Canadian diplomatic corps and representatives from the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission toured Prudhoe Bay and met with state legislators and executives from BP, Exxon Mobil and PHILLIPS Alaska. A major topic of interest included developing natural gas.

"There is demand for arctic gas and the technology to bring this gas to market exists," said Pearce. "It is time to initiate an international dialogue on a Trans-North American pipeline system. Formalizing development strategies with our Canadian counterparts on matters such as cooperative permitting agreements is the next logical step in this process."