News Release
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Bertie Ahern
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No. 103/04
June 22, 2004
EU/US SUMMIT - REVITALIZING THE TRANSATLANTIC PARTNERSHIP
The President of the European Commission,
Romano Prodi, together with the President-in-office of the European Council,
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, will meet US President George W. Bush on 26 June at
the EU-US Summit in Dromoland
Castle, County Clare, Ireland. In the run up to the summit, President Prodi declared:
“I am confident that this summit will be an opportunity to revitalize our partnership
with the US. This partnership is indispensable not only for the transatlantic
community but for the world at large. A reunited Europe will help revitalize the
EU-US
relationship.”
This summit will not only be the first after enlargement
of the EU by 10 new Member States but also the first since the EU adopted its
Constitutional
Treaty; giving fresh impetus and visibility to EU foreign policy. It comes
at a crucial moment, just on the eve of handover of power to a sovereign government
in Iraq and a few months
before both Presidential elections in the US and the appointment of a new Commission
in Europe.
Timing and agenda
Leaders will meet for a plenary session on the morning of 26 June 2004 to discuss
Iraq, the
Middle East and counter-terrorism,
followed by a working lunch during which they will have an exchange of views on
trade and economic issues. The summit will conclude with a press conference in
the early afternoon, which will be preceded by the signature of the agreement
between the satellite navigation system GPS from the US and the EU’s
Galileo system.
In the margins of the summit, representatives of the Senior Level Group, composed
of high level officials from the Commission, the Irish EU Presidency and the US
Government will meet with the Transatlantic Business
Dialogue (TABD) and the
Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD).
Summit goals
Further to the signature of the agreement between Galileo and GPS, which will
secure full interoperability of the two satellite navigation systems, it is expected
that this summit will give new impetus to the strengthening of the economic partnership
and the negotiations of a transatlantic open
aviation area agreement. In joint statements, global problems such as the
HIV/AIDS crisis and the non-proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction will be addressed.
Further issues for joint statements will be our common efforts to foster world
growth notably through the advancement of the WTO negotiations under the
Doha Development Agenda, the political situation in the Broader
Middle East and North Africa and how jointly to address problems with the
countries concerned, as well as different aspects of the fight against terrorism
ranging from root causes to terrorist
finance.
Background
The following Factsheets
are available for background information on issues related to the Summit:
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Press Contacts:
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Anthony Gooch
202-862-9523
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Maeve O'Beirne
202-862-9549
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