For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 2, 2003

Message to the Senate of the United States

To the Senate of the United States:

With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith the Protocol to the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation Between the United States and Denmark of October 1, 1951, signed at Copenhagen on May 2, 2001. I transmit also, for the information of the Senate, the report of the Department of State with respect to this protocol.

The protocol will establish the legal basis by which the United States may issue treaty-investor (E-2) visas to qualified nationals of Denmark, by supplementing the U.S.-Denmark friend-ship, commerce, and navigation (FCN) treaty to allow for entry and sojourn of investors, a benefit provided in the large majority of U.S. FCN treaties. United States investors are already eligible for Danish visas that offer comparable benefits to those that would be accorded nationals of Denmark under E-2 visa status.

The United States has long championed the benefits of an open investment climate, both at home and abroad. It is the policy of the United States to welcome market-driven foreign investment and to permit capital to flow freely to seek its highest return. Denmark also provides an open investment climate. Visas for investors facilitate investment activity, and thus directly support U.S. policy objectives.

I recommend that the Senate consider this protocol as soon as possible, and give its advice and consent to ratification of the protocol at an early date.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

September 2, 2003.

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