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This is about 45 minutes. Ladies and gentlemen, friends, i have now the privilege and pleasure to welcome a old friend of the World Economic forum and supporter, secretary of state john kerry. Actually when the secretary came the first time, it was in the 1990s and that is the time we spoke about the peace dividend. There was a lot of optimism. The world was at the don of a new era dawn of a new era and the end of the cold war. Now, we meet again and it looks like we are at the start of a world with many geopolitical issues. The last session has shown us the foremost issues we have to confront. So mr. Secretary, you were here last year and if i just take one year, when you came last time, ukraine was just beginning. Now, in a warlike situation. Of course, the United States plays a very crucial role as the worlds most foremost power. Ladies and gentlemen, we are particularly pl ....
You see candidates in both parties talking more and more about the challenge of income inequality and the lack of opportunity, and the concern that people have in the middle class that theyre slipping out of the middle class. And certainly the concern that so many have who have not yet reached the middle class that it may be out of reach. These issues have now found their moment. And this conversation, done right, is going to lead us somewhere better. This conversation, if its prosecuted properly, will lead to actual substantive changes of the types that the secretaries were talking about, that will affect our work daytoday. But i think, for us, the price of admission is, we have to demand that this be the core of the debate Going Forward. And i think we have extraordinary legitimacy in this discussion as mayors. I think that the those who seek higher office, federal office, all over this country need to be asked at the beginning o ....
Climate change. That is the major challenge of the 21st century. Time is past where humankind thought it could selfishly draw on inexhaustible resources. We know now the world is not a commodity, it is not a source of revenue. It is a common good, it is our heritage. The consequences of Climate Change are fully known now. Were not talking about theories anymore. Were talking about certainties. If nothing is done, then we are talking about increasing temperatures for degrees by the end of the century. A need to stay below the threshold of two degrees. We are also fully aware of the consequences. It would mean we would certainly see the disappearance of many island states in the indian ocean and the pacific, and huge damage to the coastlines of all continents. The 25 cities that in 2015 had more than 10 million inhabitants 19 are located on the coastline. A huge number of individuals are directly threatened by the consequences of gl ....
You know, to expand our airports, we are increasingly relying on passenger facility charges for the capital we need. How can we support the administrations proposal to raise that cap and how can we support your efforts and vice versa on that . Well, this is a vitally important issue. Right now, theres a its a 4. 50 cap on the pfc charges. We proposed lifting that cap to 8. Which would provide these are moneys that airports can use flexibly to improve their facilities. It takes a little bit of the structure of the Airport Improvement Program away and puts that money at the local level so that you can use that money more flexibly. We are big supporters of this. And again this is a place where i think conveying directly to members of congress how this impacts you, what plans do you have for your airport that could be enhanced if you had more nimble dollars at the local level that could be used to enhance that vision . Th ....