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| New Transatlantic Agenda
Report released in conjunction with the U.S.-EU Summit |
Since its adoption two years ago, the New Transatlantic Agenda (NTA) has provided a versatile framework for greater U.S.-EU cooperation on issues of common interest and for more effective management of disputes. A pragmatic approach, based on concrete action, has enabled us to achieve tangible results and bridge differences. In this regard, the early implementation of the various elements of the Understanding reached on April 11 concerning the Libertad Act and the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act and the EU's WTO case against the former remains a high priority for both sides. During the Luxembourg Presidency, substantial progress was achieved in the following key areas of the agenda. In addition, we are issuing joint statements on Ukraine, climate change, electronic commerce, and regulatory cooperation.We have intensified our cooperation on key foreign policy issues and enhanced the effectiveness of U.S. and EU diplomacy.
In Bosnia, we worked together to support successful municipal elections and Assembly elections in Republika Srpska and have agreed on a joint strategy to promote human rights and democratization. We have successfully coordinated to bring about Croatia's transfer of war crimes indictees to the International Tribunal in The Hague. We were united in condemning violence against peaceful protesters in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and in seeking respect for human and political rights in Kosovo through the opening of a comprehensive dialogue between FRY authorities and the Kosovar Albanian leadership. In Albania, we worked successfully to restore democracy and ensure the success of the donors' conference on stabilization and reform. A new high-level, coordinated effort has been undertaken to reach a settlement on Cyprus. We worked closely to advance common interests with regard to Turkey.
In the Middle East, our intensified dialogue and coordination -- through U.S. brokering of peace talks, EU diplomatic efforts, and cooperation between our special envoys -- have helped to avoid further backsliding in the peace process and sustain the hope of a more prosperous economic future. On Iran, enhanced consultations have underscored common concerns about weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and human rights. Underscoring our strong commitment to respect for human rights and democratic practices, we have continued to seek out new opportunities to support these principles in the Great Lakes region of Africa, Nigeria, Burma, Cuba, and elsewhere. The Agreement between Euratom and the Korean Peninsula Development Organization (KEDO) entered into force on September 19, 1997, underlining our shared global commitment to strengthen non-proliferation efforts.
The October 1997 U.S.-EU High Level Consultations on Assistance addressed both global and specific areas of cooperation. Practical results included: parallel financing by the U.S. and the EU to train local civil servants in Bolivia and support destitute women in Bangladesh; assessment of good governance in Benin; discussions on codes of conduct for food aid and the application of food security instruments; and successful checking of a meningitis outbreak in West Africa and effective collaboration on epidemic preparedness and pursuit of immunization programs there.
We have strengthened efforts to address global challenges and launched promising new initiatives to fight international crime and address environmental concerns.
We are scheduling a first study visit of experts from U.S. law enforcement agencies to the EU's European Drug Unit (forerunner of EUROPOL). We have held expert-level meetings and seminars on mutual legal assistance, organized crime in Eastern Europe, cybercrime, financing of terrorism, and asylum requests. We have combined forces to combat trafficking in women by launching a joint information campaign in two key transit and source countries -- Poland and Ukraine. We completed the first phase of a joint Caribbean Drug Initiative to staunch drug trafficking and have laid the groundwork for concrete action to be agreed at the December 8th Santo Domingo Summit meeting. In our fight against terrorism, we worked together toward the successful conclusion of the UN International Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings.
Recognizing the importance of a successful Kyoto Conference, we have intensified high-level efforts to bridge differences over climate change and reach a common position. We have pledged funding and begun work to establish four new Regional Environmental Centers in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia to be opened in late spring 1998. Our task force on communicable diseases is completing technical arrangements on a surveillance network covering salmonella and E. Coli and, subsequently, other pathogens.
We have built on our successful collaboration on our multilateral trade agenda and made progress on building the New Transatlantic Marketplace.
We have worked together in the WTO to conclude by the December deadline the Financial Services Agreement and to ensure that the WTO accessions of China and Russia are accompanied by significant market-opening measures. Our cooperation has helped to ensure the conclusion of a comprehensive OECD anti-bribery convention. Building the New Transatlantic Marketplace, we have made additional progress on the Joint Study. We are initialing this month a positive comity agreement that will greatly enhance cooperation between our competition authorities. We have made good progress in establishing the framework for implementing the Mutual Recognition Agreement initialed in June and continued our negotiations on the inclusion of fasteners and veterinary biologics. We have reached an agreement on humane trapping standards for fur-bearing animals.
Joint initiatives are expanding the range of contacts between U.S. and EU citizens and organizations, opening new possibilities for cooperative endeavors.
The Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement being signed on December 5 will promote closer cooperation between our scientists and scientific institutions on cutting-edge issues. The new Transatlantic Information Exchange Service (TIES) will provide Internet links between a wide range of U.S. and EU groups interested in people-to-people exchanges. The U.S. Library of Congress and partner libraries in Europe and America are working on a Transatlantic Digital Library. We have created a Transatlantic Civil Society Dialogue. We actively supported a successful conference in Rome of the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD), which has further consolidated positive business involvement in the NTA process, including partnering of small and medium-sized enterprises under the Transatlantic Small Business Initiative (TASBI). Under the successful U.S.-EC Agreement on Cooperation in Higher Education and Vocational Training, we are supporting academic cooperation between some 150 U.S. and EU post-secondary schools.
New Priorities
We highlight the following new priorities as part of our ongoing cooperation for the next six months:
I. Promoting Peace, Stability, Democracy and Development, we will:
Deepen our cooperation to strengthen peace in Bosnia by reinforcing the authority of the High Representative to advance peace implementation measures, through establishment of democratic institutions, including open media and functioning municipal and parliamentary bodies, and through the return of refugees. Undertake new, coordinated efforts in Kosovo to maintain peace and promote respect for human rights there and elsewhere in former Yugoslavia. Work together to promote respect for human rights in eastern Slavonia and other parts of Croatia, following the completion of the UNTAES mandate.
Implement our joint statement on Ukraine. As part of our broad pattern of cooperation with Russia, pay particular attention to examining ways of working together on nuclear safety in Northwest Russia. Cooperate to support the reform process in the Baltic States, strengthen their integration into the global system, in particular their accession to the WTO, and support cooperation in the Baltic region, including the early signature by Russia of border agreements with Estonia and Latvia. Work together to entrench and, where necessary, develop free and independent media in Central and Eastern Europe. In view of the unique opportunities for progress in 1998, intensify efforts to find a solution to the Cyprus question. Continue work to strengthen Turkey's ties to the West and to promote economic and political progress there.
Continue to give a high priority to supporting the Middle East Peace Process, including through cooperation of our special envoys. Build on productive discussions in the Trilateral Working Group on Iran to enhance cooperation on weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and human rights to achieve a broader convergence of U.S.-EU approaches on Iran. Strengthen our dialogue on relations with China. Cooperate in supporting the O.A.U.'s conflict prevention mechanism and in combating illicit trafficking in arms. Consult on a common approach toward Central Africa, and in particular the Democratic Republic of Congo, to respond to humanitarian needs, address urgent human rights issues, notably the need to strengthen the rule of law and the justice sector generally, encourage an evolutionary and transparent political process leading to free and fair elections, and strengthen civil society.
Improve our coordination in de-mining and related activities, including victim assistance; enhance data sharing, including information exchange on anti-personnel mine exporting countries; and work together in all appropriate fora, inter alia, the Conference on Disarmament. Continue efforts to reform the UN and solve its financial crisis in line with our commitments, including financial obligations. Work together to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Human Rights Declaration and to advance our shared goals around the world.
In the areas of development and humanitarian assistance, provide incentives for our assistance partners to adopt environmentally sound policies, in particular the G-7 Pilot Program on Brazilian Rain-Forests; undertake early warning on ways of mitigating effects of El Niņo; consult on the security of relief workers and on disaster preparedness; improve our assistance to war-torn societies; support increased micro-enterprise lending; encourage NGO dialogue; and implement exchanges of humanitarian assistance staff.
II. Responding to Global Challenges, we will:
Implement the action components of the Caribbean Drug Initiative and explore the possibility of additional collaborative approaches in other regions plagued by drug trafficking. Continue consultations on a multilateral chemical reporting initiative.
Pursue U.S.-EU experts' consultations on organized crime; enhance cooperation to combat international money laundering; conduct the visit of a U.S. study team to the European Drug Unit and organize a visit of EDU officials to the U.S.; discuss cooperation on extradition so international fugitives have "nowhere to hide"; cooperate on the implementation of the UN Bombing Convention and International Counter-Terrorist Conventions as appropriate.
Fully implement the joint information campaign in Poland and Ukraine to combat trafficking in women and explore broadening the initiative on the basis of a joint evaluation.
Intensify cooperation on climate change, implementing the agreed results of the Kyoto conference. Undertake concrete action to encourage the phasing out of CFC production in Russia. Continue cooperation on the four new Regional Environmental Centers and the Budapest REC. Prepare the Transatlantic Chemicals Conference in Italy (1998) and work together on the UN negotiations on a prior informed consent procedure for the transport of chemicals and on persistent organic pollutants. Implement the multi-annual working program agreed to at the Earth Summit plus Five.
III. Expanding World Trade and Closer Economic Relations, we will:
Continue effective collaborative efforts in multilateral fora by: monitoring the implementation by countries of all aspects of their commitments in basic telecommunications services and of the WTO Information Technology Agreement including its expansion through the second phase of the Agreement; upon the successful conclusion of the WTO Financial Services Agreement, encouraging its prompt implementation; developing forward-looking common positions in advance of the WTO Ministerial Meeting in May 1998; continuing work on the WTO's built-in agenda and on accession of new WTO members; confirming our attachment to seeking amicable and cooperative solutions to our disputes and to the smooth functioning of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism; working together to follow up on the conclusions of the "High Level Meeting on Integrated Initiatives for Least Developed Countries' Trade Development"; taking concrete action to resolve all remaining issues on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) before the 1998 OECD Ministerial; and working together to implement the OECD anti-bribery convention.
On the bilateral side, we will develop further the concept of the New Transatlantic Marketplace, developing recommendations on the reduction of trade barriers, including non-tariff barriers, drawing especially on the results of the Joint Study and the recommendations of the TABD Rome conference; continue to seek solutions to our remaining transatlantic trade differences expeditiously; reinvigorate and enhance our cooperation on regulatory issues, including those relating to biotechnology, and aim to finalize a parallel agreement on auto standards within the UN/ECE framework; on electronic commerce, implement the guidelines [and work program] agreed in our Joint Statement; implement fully the Mutual Recognition Agreement, conclude ongoing negotiations, and consider negotiation of additional sectors; pursue the various projects of the Transatlantic Small Business Initiative; exchange experiences and review the potential of the Apparel Industry Partnership at the spring 1998 conference; take up the issue of intellectual property rights in third countries; continue consultations on guidelines and key elements for a Global Navigation Satellite System; continue to exchange views on macro-economic issues, including EMU-related issues; and cooperate to ensure that the business communities will be fully prepared to seize the opportunities of the introduction of the Euro.
IV. Deepening Our Cooperation on People-To-People Activities, we will:
Announce the first recipients of the Democracy and Civil Society Awards at the next U.S. - EU Summit; work together to develop civic education in Ukraine.
Hold a conference on workforce training and development in Akron, Ohio, with special focus on regional collaboration in adapting to the challenges of globalization; encourage an increasingly active role for the Transatlantic Labor Dialogue under the NTA; and organize a June 1998 seminar on work organization and intensify cooperation on labor market policy including health and safety at work.
Identify and develop significant projects under the Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement and disseminate information on cooperative opportunities in U.S. and EU science and technology programs; and promote the use of TIES and development of the Transatlantic Digital Library.
Support the efforts of the U.S. Congress and European Parliament to establish internship and exchange programs, including a new Fellows program for diplomats from the U.S. and the EU; continue to lend our high-level support to the TABD and work with it on a new program of transatlantic corporate exchange; explore ways of promoting U.S.-EU consumer dialogue; support the visit next summer by members of the Supreme Court of the United States to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to encourage a dialogue on common legal problems; and explore the possibility of internships and exchange programs between U.S. and European courts.
[End of Document]
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