Northern New Brunswick could play a significant role in the Atlantic Gateway Strategy, provincial Transportation Minister Denis Landry said Monday.

Speaking at the Atlantica Forum on Transportation in Beresford, Landry said co-operation is crucial to securing federal funding.

The Atlantic Gateway strategy is a partnership between the four Atlantic Provinces and the federal government that aims to make Atlantic Canada a key entry-point for goods coming in to North America from Asia.

The four provinces need a common vision before any of them can access the $2.1 billion available in federal money.

"New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada will be stronger when it speaks with one voice," Landry told the forum. "In the Atlantic Gateway initiative, together we can aim higher and be better."

Donald Hammond, with Enterprise Chaleur, the region's economic development agency, said access to Atlantic Gateway funds would allow northern New Brunswick ports to realize their full potential.

"We’re seeing a lot of major projects in the world, and a lot on the east coast of North America, that potentially we could do in Belledune because we have the land, we have the port and we have the labour force that could be available," Hammond said.

That would require investments in transportation and infrastructure, he said, adding those investments are key to building a transportation network that would ship goods from the northern New Brunswick to the rest of North America.