For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 25, 2003

Business Dialogue Fact Sheet
U.S.-EU Summit
Transatlantic Business Dialogue
United States and European Union Business Leaders Met with U.S.

Commerce Secretary Donald Evans and EU Commissioner Erkki Liikanen on the eve of the 2003 U.S.-EU summit in Washington, D.C., to discuss issues of critical importance to transatlantic commerce, including the Doha trade talks, security issues, regulatory cooperation, and capital market convergence.

The discussion also included several changes to the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) process, a successful forum in the past, which is being redesigned to create a more conducive environment to advance transatlantic economic relations.

The redesign of the TABD includes:

Focusing TABD recommendations to governments in two or three areas of critical interest. To bolster international business confidence, TABD business leaders will focus on two or three issues of most benefit to the transatlantic marketplace, pursue a work plan for each, and outline goals for the coming year.

High-level government attention from the U.S. and EU. The U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the EU Commissioners for Enterprise and Trade have pledged to review the proposed work plans and commit to implement appropriate recommendations. A senior deputy from each side will coordinate the process throughout the year, ensuring participation of appropriate agencies, policy officials, and regulators in the process.

Replacement of annual 2-day TABD conference with an annual meeting on the margins of the U.S.-EU Summit. European and American CEOs and government decision-makers will use this meeting to review progress and identify future work.

Expert-level working groups to discuss sector-specific issues. Throughout the year, expert groups will meet, bringing in high-level government and business leaders when necessary. Expert group results will be fed into CEO level discussions as appropriate, and may be addressed in relevant government dialogues, such as the talks on EU-U.S. Guidelines on Regulatory Cooperation and Transparency.

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