Washington -- The United States and the European Union (EU) have agreed to expand economic ties by cutting barriers to trade and investment and liberalizing restrictions on air travel. Joint commitments on a broad range of economic and security issues were signed April 30 during the annual U.S.-EU summit in Washington. President Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso signed the trans-Atlantic economic partnership plan under which the two trading partners will establish a framework for business integration by streamlining regulatory standards that are often different between the trans-Atlantic partners. “It is a commitment to eliminating barriers to trade. It is recognition that the closer that the United States and the EU become, the better off our people become,” Bush said at a joint press conference with the European leaders after their meeting. As part of the framework, the United States and EU will set up the "Trans-Atlantic Economic Council" to push regulatory convergence in nearly 40 areas, including intellectual property, financial services and the automotive industry. Merkel, whose country holds the rotating EU and G8 presidency, said the agreement is a “significant step forward” for trade partners that exchange more than $2 billion in goods and services across the Atlantic every day. In addition to the United States and Germany, the G8 includes the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia. Barroso said the agreement will help fight protectionism and isolationism by getting rid of “artificial barriers to trade and investment” through the “harmonization of standards.” In addition, all three leaders stressed their commitment to bringing the long-stalled Doha round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations to a successful outcome. "I'm under no illusions as to how hard it will be to achieve the objective, but the first thing is there must be a firm commitment by the leadership to get a deal," Bush said. AIR TRANSPORT AGREEMENT The United States and the European Union also signed a historic agreement to further liberalize air services. The agreement will take effect on March 30, 2008. (See related article.) The first-stage Air Transport Agreement will replace all existing bilateral agreements between the United States and EU member states and establish an Open-Skies Plus framework between the United States and all 27 EU members.
Once implemented, every U.S. carrier will be able to fly to every city in the 27 European Union member states and every EU carrier will be able to fly to any city in the United States. “This agreement ushers in an era of unprecedented liberalization for an area that encompasses 60 percent of global civil aviation traffic,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said during a press conference with EU Commission Vice President and Transportation Commissioner Jacques Barrot to mark the event. Barrot said the agreement is "both a centerpiece for today's reinvigorated trans-Atlantic relationship and a big step forward in international aviation." During his press conference with Bush and Merkel, Barroso also praised the aviation agreement, calling it “by far the most important [accord] in terms of air traffic liberalization since the convention of Chicago,” which led to the establishment of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations charged with coordinating and regulating international air travel. U.S. and EU leaders also held discussions on climate change, Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba, Kosovo, the Visa Waiver Program, missile defense and the sharing of classified information. A transcript of a joint press conference with Bush, Merkel and Barroso is available on the White House Web site. A transcript of Rice's press conference and a fact sheet on the Air Transport Agreement are available on the State Department Web site. |
