1.   Countries signing the open skies accords in Costa Rica included Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

2.   President Clinton, in a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto in September, urged that the two countries begin working on an open skies accord.

3.   The proposed alliance comes in the wake of so-called open skies accords with Switzerland, Belgium and Austria.

4.   The U.S. initialed open skies accords with Singapore in January and with Taiwan last month.

5.   The U.S. signed an open skies accord with Singapore last month.

6.   In recent years, the United States has been negotiating open skies accords with various nations.

7.   The framework of a so-called open skies accord between the United States and Germany was unveiled in Bonn by Transportation Minister Matthias Wissmann.

8.   The Seoul talks were the first negotiations since Washington proposed an open skies accord with Seoul last year.

9.   The Seoul talks will be the first negotiations since Washington proposed an open skies accord with Seoul last year.

10.   The US government is also seeking an open skies accord, under which passenger air traffic between the two countries would be deregulated.