A United States customs post in Abu Dhabi will make travel easier and faster for passengers when they arrive in America, a diplomat has claimed.
Adam Ereli, a former US ambassador to Bahrain, said the planned Customs Border Clearance Gate in the UAE was a positive step that would increase the flow of people and goods.
The agreement, officially signed in April, has been denounced as "misguided" by an airlines association, which is urging the US Congress to scrap the plan.
But Mr Ereli insists the move was not detrimental to American companies or taxpayers.
"If there is a way to ease the travel of people from the UAE to the US and vice versa, I'm all in favour of that because the exchange of goods and people benefits every body," he said from Washington DC.
The deal will see US security officials stationed at Abu Dhabi airport to screen passengers before they board flights for the US.
This will speed their entry into the US and reduce the time they spend queuing upon their arrival, although they still have to go through immigration and customs in Abu Dhabi.
The oldest and largest US airlines trade association has called the move "misguided" and is urging the Congress to block the pre-clearance gates.
Nicholas E Calio, chief executive and president of Airlines for America (A4A) told a Congressional panel the decision as a bad deal for US taxpayers and travellers.
In his testimony, Mr Calio said that US airlines, their employees, and the US economy would be adversely affected.
"What we have here is the US government picking winners and losers in the international aviation business," he said. "Unfortunately the winners are the international competitors of our US airlines.
"Granting the UAE a pre-clearance facility makes it much easier to enter our country if you fly through Abu Dhabi than it is to fly directly in to JFK, Houston, Miami, Chicago or Dallas. This agreement significantly tilts the competitive playing field against US airlines."
Mr Calio said airlines had consistently advocated US homeland securityfocus on addressing lengthy waiting times at several American gateway airports and not sign deals that benefited a government-owned foreign competitor at the expense of US airlines and their customers.
"This diversion of taxpayer dollars to assist wealthy foreign airlines cannot be justified," he said.
"No US taxpayer dollars should be invested outside the US before we correct the mess at our own ports of entry."
Mr Ereli said concerns about security could always be addressed.
"We should not let our concerns about security stand in the way or be an excuse for actions that limit the flow of people and goods," he said.
"This is like those who argued against free-trade agreements, they said Americans would lose jobs, they said little companies could take some of the American companies' market share and so on," he said,
"In the end, free trade and easing the restrictions of flow of people and goods is a rising tide that raises all boats - in other words, there might be some losers and gainers in the short term but in the long term every body wins and makes money."
amustafa@thenational.ae
