News
Releases
US President Bush with European Commission President Barroso (Right),
February 22, 2005, Brussels
No. 86/05
October 14, 2005
EU Commission President Barroso Meets US President Bush
at White House
EU Commission President
José
Manuel Barroso will meet US President George W. Bush
October 18 at the White House, the first such bilateral
meeting in the White House for many years. Presidents Bush
and Barroso will discuss the
WTO Doha Round, the deepening
of
transatlantic economic integration and the promotion of
democracy around the world. President Barroso will be
accompanied by Commissioner for
External Relations and
Neighborhood Policy,
Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
US Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice will also attend the meeting.
In Brussels today, President Barroso said: “Our dialogue
with the US is producing good results. We are working
together effectively in many regions of the world. My goal
in Washington, DC, will be to further promote our
political and economic transatlantic ties. President Bush
and I share the idea that our strategic partnership should
serve to promote democracy, human rights, rule of law, and
market economy around the world. Nothing is more important
on our short-term horizon than ensuring the success of the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial meeting to set the framework for
concluding the WTO Doha Round.”
At 1:15 pm on Tuesday, October 18, President Barroso will
brief the press on his meeting with President Bush. The
briefing will take place at the
Delegation of the EU
Commission, 2300 M Street, NW. For security reasons, please
contact the Press Office at (202) 862-9538 if you wish to
attend and bring your press pass as ID. The Press Room
will be open from 12:45 pm for TV crews to set up.
While in Washington, President Barroso will also deliver a
keynote speech and inaugurate the
EU Center of Excellence
at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
(SAIS).
There are two main topics for discussion in the Oval
Office: the WTO Doha Round and EU-US Foreign Policy
cooperation.
WTO Doha Round
This is the most important challenge the EU and the US
face on the international economic agenda and one in
which both share a major responsibility for its success.
Agriculture is one of the key areas, in which the EU has
shown its commitment to significant farm reform. The
Commission welcomes the signs of movement from the US on
its own farm support programs in the last few days and
calls on the US to go further. That will unlock the Round
as a whole. Another crucial area is market access for the
Least Developed Countries (LDCs). We have to make good the
commitment to remove any remaining barriers to their
exports. The Commission calls on the US to join Europe in
doing this.
EU- US Foreign Policy Cooperation
Discussions are expected to focus particularly on the
promotion of reform in the
Middle East and developments
following
Israel’s withdrawal from
Gaza. The EU and the US
have many shared interests and goals in this region. As
fellow members of the “Quartet” (EU, US, UN and Russia),
they have a common objective of helping to bring all
parties back to implementation of the “Roadmap.” The
European Commission has been active in supporting reform
in the region for over ten years with a budget of
€3 billion ($3.6 million) a year. The work that the
Commission is already engaged in with partner countries
through the
Barcelona Process, and the
European
Neighborhood Policy makes an important contribution to
achieving the objectives of the G8 Broader Middle East and
Northern Africa (BMENA) initiative and its Forum for the
Future.
The EU and the US have shared objectives in a range of
other areas around the globe and have complementary
approaches to challenges ranging from stabilization and
reconstruction efforts in
Afghanistan and
Iraq to
promotion of democracy in
Lebanon and
Ukraine and non-proliferation, including
Iran.
Climate change and
pandemics are major global challenges
the EU and the US both need to confront. The European
Commission welcomes the US initiative of the “Asia Pacific
Partnership on Clean Development,” which shows growing
awareness of seriousness of climate change. The Commission
seeks to promote a constructive international dialogue on
how to address climate change in the period after the
Kyoto Protocol in view of the UN Climate Change Conference
in Montreal next month. With regard to pandemics, the EU
shares the aims of the recent US initiative on
Avian and
Pandemic Influenza and is keen to cooperate closely in
order to ensure that effective and appropriate global
preparedness and prevention measures are in place.
The EU and the US must attain the goals of the Declaration
on Millennium Development Goals. The EU recognizes that
debt relief decided by the
G8 is an important step. The EU
and the US need to join efforts to strengthen the
African
Union (AU) and other regional organizations as well as
enhancing support for the implementation of the peace
agreement in
Sudan and for stability in the Great Lakes
region.
The EU and the US maintain by far the largest
bilateral
trade and investment relationship in the world. But
further work needs to be done. That is why leaders agreed
the
EU-US Initiative to Enhance Transatlantic Economic
Integration and Growth at their last
summit in Washington,
DC, in June. The opening up of the air-services market
and visa-free access to the US for all new EU Member
States citizens are two areas, for instance, where early
benefits could be realized with direct benefits for
millions of European and American citizens.
For further information go to:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/us/intro/index.htm
Further Contact Information
Press and Media Relations
Delegation of the European Commission
2300 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
http://www.eurunion.org/PressRoom
Tel: 202-862-9552
Fax: 202-429-1766
