US ready to use EU expertise on development

By Andrew Beatty

Date: 22/09/05

US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Josette Shiner, said she wanted the world to benefit from the EU's experience with "transition economies".

Speaking after a senior level meeting of EU and US officials in New York, Shiner praised the level of co-operation and agreement between the two sides on the international agenda.

Shiner, who took office last month, said the meeting had been useful to ensure that both sides understood their common interests.

Playing down the disagreements that surfaced ahead of the UN summit, Shiner said that both the EU and the US had full agendas to implement the Millennium Development Goals.

She said the two sides had discussed how they would co-ordinate their different projects in various parts of the world.

The US, she said, was keen to identify countries that were near "a tipping point" that could move them from dependency towards economic development.

"Europe has so much experience of transition economies moving to democracy and free markets," she said.

Shiner, who is also responsible for business and agricultural affairs at the State Department, was cautious about the chances of a breakthrough at the World Trade Organization's ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December.

The goal, she said, would be "a road map to finish negotiations across all the sectors".

Her comments come after WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy called for members, by the end of the Hong Kong meeting to have moved two-thirds of the way towards completing the Doha round in 2006.

Writing in European Voice this week, Peter Mandelson, the European commissioner for trade, urges all WTO countries not to wait until Hong Kong before offering commitments.

Article features comments made by newly-appointed US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Josette Shiner, who said that she wanted the world to benefit from the EU's experience with 'transition economies'. Shiner was speaking after a senior level meeting of EU and US officials in New York, praising the level of co-operation and agreement between the two sides on the international agenda.