| Author (Person) | Carstens, Karen |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.9, No.24, 26.6.03, p2 |
| Publication Date | 26/06/2003 |
| Content Type | News |
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Date: 26/06/03 By Karen Carstens KEY EU and US policymakers and CEOs emerged with a new-found sense of purpose from a brainstorming session ahead of yesterday's (25 June) summit in Washington. They aim to breathe new life into the beleaguered TransAtlantic Business Dialogue (TABD). The meeting, held on Tuesday (24 June) evening and hosted by US Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans, was also attended by Enterprise Commissioner Erkki Liikanen and 18 CEOs from a wide range of industries on both sides of the Atlantic. "We outlined goals and steps the US and EU governments can take to improve the transatlantic marketplace," Evans said. A declaration on the TABD relaunch was also presented to US President George W. Bush during a working lunch focusing on economic issues yesterday (25 June), which Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy also attended. Liikanen hailed the business community as "the driving force of transatlantic economic integration", whose "vigilance is needed to bring trade barriers and frictions to the attention of governments and to make them find solutions to these problems. "TABD has contributed positively to the improvement of transatlantic economic relations through innovative ideas that have advanced trade liberalization," he added. Jeff Werner, executive director of the TABD office in Washington, said "the CEOs came away [from the meeting] with a sense that the governments are quite serious about TABD". Issues addressed included making progress on trade liberalisation in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha talks and managing trade disputes and regulatory concerns, for example about the EU's proposed chemicals' policy overhaul. They also addressed the issues of who would take the TABD lead this year - one CEO from each side traditionally jointly preside over the proceedings - although no names were announced after the meeting. Werner predicted the names would be revealed within the next two weeks, but declined to speculate on who was in the running. Coca-Cola and Unilever, however, have been cited by EU officials as possible candidates. Also on the agenda was how to streamline the TABD process. The previous style of holding a major annual CEO conference has been written off as too unwieldy as business leaders felt overburdened - not to mention bored - by issues ranging from pleasure boat to drivers' licence standards to the minutiae of making global markets work for mobile phones or medical devices. Instead, smaller meetings focusing on a few key issues will henceforth be the order of the day. Werner said a CEO meeting will be held ahead of the next EU-US summit. Further details on how the TABD, first launched in 1995, will be restructured will emerge once the two new CEOs have been appointed and a new work plan has been crafted over the next six months. A meeting between key EU and US policymakers and CEOs ahead of the EU-US Summit produced some useful ideas on improving the transatlantic marketplace. |
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