For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 26, 2004
Text of U.S.-EU Declaration on Strengthening Our Economic Partnership
Dromoland Castle
Shannon, Ireland
1. Over the last 50 years, the economies of the United States and
the European Union have become increasingly integrated, to the benefit
of
all. Today, we share the largest bilateral trade and investment
relationship in the world, providing jobs to millions of workers on
each
side of the Atlantic. We have jointly dismantled trade and
investment
barriers, stimulated economic growth, and significantly increased
our
mutual prosperity. The historic expansion of the European Union to
25
nations and 455 million people brings us additional opportunities
for
strengthening our bilateral relationship, as well as for promoting
prosperity beyond our borders.
2. Our economies will prosper faster and further as the global
economy
grows as a whole. Trade liberalisation is critical to boosting
global
prosperity, generating sustained economic growth, and raising
living
standards. We thus reaffirm their commitment to a multilateral
trading
system governed by rules. We are determined to advance
multilateral
trade liberalisation and strengthen rules as embodied in the WTO
Doha
Development Agenda negotiations. We are encouraged by the
re-energised
negotiations in recent weeks and recognise the need to make rapid
progress on the core areas. We are on the verge of an historic
opportunity to fundamentally reform trade in agriculture and
recognise
that progress in the agriculture negotiations will be essential to
move
the other core areas of the negotiations forward. We will continue
to
cooperate to reach a successful conclusion of the Doha Development
Agenda negotiations as quickly as possible, based upon an ambitious
and
balanced outcome, taking into account the needs of developing
countries
and ensuring the poorest countries are not left behind. They too
should
develop the capacity to participate in the global trading system.
We
recognise that different countries will need to move at different
speeds
towards this aim. Working in cooperation with other WTO members,
we
direct our Ministers to finalise negotiating frameworks by the end
of
July in order to expeditiously complete these negotiations, reduce
global trade barriers, and further enhance the conditions for
sustained
global economic growth.
3. We are committed to policies producing strong and sustained
economic
growth to the mutual benefit of our citizens and the wider world.
Innovation will bring improvements in productivity and stimulate
more
growth and higher levels of prosperity for our countries as well as
other countries that rely on our markets. Innovative technologies
in
areas such as information, communication, hydrogen energy,
pharmaceuticals, and other health-related products, can provide
impetus
to our economic partnership. We will reinforce our commitment to
the
protection of intellectual property rights, recognising their
fundamental and growing importance to the creation of innovative
products, services, and technologies in our economies.
4. Our economic partnership will also thrive on the success of
current
transatlantic initiatives as we work to create a seamless
transatlantic
economic partnership. Today we signed an agreement on cooperation
between the Galileo and GPS satellite navigation systems, opening
the
way for wide-ranging commercial opportunities. We are working
towards a
comprehensive aviation accord that will expand opportunities not
only
for airlines, but also for airports, tourism, business links, and
cargo
transport. We ask our negotiators to continue their efforts on
this
important agreement. We are making good progress on our Financial
Markets Regulatory Dialogue to promote a vibrant and open
transatlantic
capital market. We recently signed a customs agreement on
container
security that will make trade more secure and facilitate legitimate
trade. We are working to conclude an agreement on trade in wine,
enhance trade in the expanding sector of organic food products, and
resolve differences over poultry trade. We have developed a
Roadmap for
Regulatory Cooperation outlining a broad range of activities
intended to
expand market opportunities and help minimise U.S.-EU regulatory
divergences. We have initiated a policy dialogue to seek ways to
raise
our long-term growth potential. To date, we have focused on
pension
systems reform and productivity growth, both of which are essential
to
meeting the economic challenge of our aging populations.
5. Trade and investment remain at the core of our relationship, and
we must
continue to look for cooperative means and best practices to
enhance
economic growth, job creation, and innovation, in particular in the
most
dynamic sectors of our economies. We will look at new ways to give
our
relationship a fresh impetus. In this respect, we welcome and
encourage
the current lively and creative public debate on both sides of the
Atlantic on how to enhance our already strong economic
relationship. We
commend the efforts of the Transatlantic Dialogues - Business,
Consumer,
and Legislators - and others, to promote closer transatlantic ties
and
value those recommendations they have made on ways to eliminate
barriers
in the transatlantic market and to boost prosperity, productivity,
employment, and the standard of living.
6. We call on stakeholders on both sides of the Atlantic to engage
in a
vigorous discussion of concrete ideas on how to further
transatlantic
economic integration to the fullest, spur innovation and job
creation,
and better realise the competitive potential of our economies and
enterprises. We also ask senior officials from the EU and the
U.S.
Government to assess on each side of the Atlantic our bilateral
economic
relationship and to explore means to eliminate trade, regulatory,
and
investment impediments to further economic integration. This effort
may
include relevant regulatory agencies as appropriate. We will in
early
2005 develop a forward-looking strategy to enhance our economic
partnership and eliminate barriers. The Senior Level Group will
present
these ideas to Leaders before the next U.S.-EU Summit.
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