Border Policy Research Institute to report on research at Pacific Northwest Economic Region summit

Border Policy Research Institute Associate Director Laurie Trautman and Director Don Alper will report on research at the upcoming Pacific Northwest Economic Region Annual Summit in Whistler, BC July 20 to 24. PNWER is a statutory public/private non-profit created in 1991 by the states of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Washington and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

WWU's Alper co-leads PNWER's Border Issues Working Group with Simon Gibson, MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) of Mission, BC. Western has played an active role in PNWER since 2005, when the Border Policy Research Institute signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the group.

“Our shared border is the economic bridge linking the largest 2-way trading relationship in the world,” said Alper, director of the Border Policy Institute. “We’ve got to get the border right and PNWER has been leading this effort.”

Alper and Trautman’s talks will focus on the theme “The Need to Improve Cross Border Mobility to Strengthen North American Competitiveness.”

Alper will be chairing the Border Session and giving a talk on “What Tourism Needs from Beyond the Border 2.0” in the Tourism Session. He will also report on the recommendations from the “Beyond NAFTA” conference held at WWU on May 15. Trautman will be presenting at the Border Session on the proposed (Radio Frequency Identification) RFID pilot that was detailed at the “Beyond NAFTA” conference and in the last Border Brief.

40th District State Sen. Kevin Ranker is the 2013-2014 President of PNWER. WWU’s Bellingham campus is in the 40th District.