U.S.-EU Summit: Initiative to Enhance Transatlantic Economic Integration and Growth

At the 2004 U.S.-EU Summit in Ireland, the U.S. President and EU leaders committed to finding ways to strengthen the transatlantic economic partnership. They called on businesses and citizens to submit ideas and directed our governments to develop a forward-looking strategy to enhance transatlantic economic integration and promote growth, spur innovation and job creation. We thank the many individuals who participated in this public consultation process and welcome the ideas they advanced.

Responding to recommendations of transatlantic stakeholders, the U.S. and EU are committing at this Summit to a forward-looking agenda of concrete practical measures to facilitate trade and investment through enhanced regulatory cooperation. We are undertaking measures to increase integration of capital markets and to enable more dynamic private economic activity which will enhance growth and encourage innovation. We support effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, as well as development and dissemination of energy efficiency technologies. This initiative is complementary to our active engagement in the multilateral trade liberalization negotiations of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

This will be a multi-year effort that will require sustained political commitment. We are looking to senior political leadership of our governments to meet regularly with their transatlantic counterparts to establish work programs, review progress and advance areas of cooperation.
We encourage legislators on both sides of the Atlantic to meet regularly to discuss economic policy issues. Encouraged by the positive exchanges between governments and economic stakeholders in the past year, we welcome future open and transparent public dialogue on economic policy matters.