US and Europe urged to draw closer

THE world’s two largest trading blocs, the United States and Europe, will be urged at their summit meeting in Co Clare on Saturday to work towards eventually creating a barrier free transatlantic market.

Chief executives of companies that collectively employ two million people in America, Europe and globally will recommend the ambitious move in a report to the summit which President George W Bush and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, European Council president, will attend.

The top executives, members of the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue (TABD), maintain that the continued strong partnership between Europe and the US is a precondition for future global economic prosperity.

TABD's executive board will meet with Tánaiste Mary Harney, US Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans and EU Enterprise Commissioner Jan Figel at Adare Manor in Co Limerick on Friday, prior to the EU-US summit at Dromoland Castle.

Douglas Daft, chairman and ceo of the Coca-Cola company and the US TABD chairman, said such economic prosperity in turn plays an important role in assuring security on both sides of the Atlantic.

“If we are to realise the available opportunities, we must reduce the number of trade and non-trade barriers between the EU and the US,” he said.

Niall FitzGerald, chairman of Unilever, and the EU TABD chairman, said there is clear political commitment from the governments to respond to the proposals.

“What we have laid out here is our response to their calls for input, and we stand ready to make progress in these areas,” he said.

TABD notes that nearly 60% of American foreign corporate assets are located in Europe, while Europe provides nearly 75% of all foreign investment in the United States.