Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority President and CEO Jack Potter pledged support Friday for Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s proposed collaboration between the Airports Authority, the Virginia Port Authority and state officials in building and strengthening relationships with present and potential customers and business partners outside the United States.

In a Thursday evening speech to the Virginia Maritime Association, McAuliffe announced that he has asked Virginia Port Authority Board Member and former Chairman John Milliken and Airports Authority Chairman Rusty Conner to assemble a group of state government leaders in an informal working group to examine ways the Virginia Port Authority and Washington Dulles International Airport, as two key international-facing institutions in the Commonwealth, can help initiate an “Air-to-Maritime Trade Dialogue” aimed at boosting Virginia’s global commerce.

“The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority appreciates Governor McAuliffe’s recognition of Washington Dulles International Airport’s role as a global gateway and driver of economic development, and we applaud the governor’s goal of generating more international business,” Potter said.

“International connections are a critical and growing component of the economy of Virginia and the National Capital Region, which Dulles serves,” he said. “We are eager to work with our colleagues in the Commonwealth to help move this important initiative forward.”

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, established in 1987 by the governments of Virginia and the District of Columbia, manages and operates Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International airports, which together serve more than 40 million passengers a year. The Airports Authority also operates and maintains the Dulles Airport Access Road and the Dulles Toll Road and manages construction of the Silver Line project, a 23-mile extension of the Washington region’s Metrorail system into Loudoun County, Va. No tax dollars are used to operate the toll road, which is funded by toll revenues, or the airports, which are funded through aircraft landing fees, rents and revenues from concessions. The Silver Line construction is funded by a combination of toll-road revenues, airport contributions and federal, state and local government appropriations. The Airports Authority is led by a 17-member board of directors appointed by the governors of Virginia, Maryland, the mayor of Washington, D.C., and the president of the United States.