WASHINGTON: The European Union and the United States agreed on Saturday to attempt to secure a positive conclusion to global trade negotiations at the Doha talks next year. US President Barack Obama spent two hours meeting with Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Lisbon, and both sides emphasized the importance of their economic relationship. Both the US and Europe re-committed themselves to agreements made in Korea earlier this month at the G20 summit to promote growth and avoid currency devaluation as a result of competitiveness. “We highlighted our commitment to reject protectionism as a response to the challenges our economies face,” read a joint statement released after their first summit in a year. “We reiterated our strong commitment to direct our negotiators to engage in across-the-board negotiations to promptly bring the Doha Development Agenda to a successful, ambitious, comprehensive and balanced conclusion. “We recognized that 2011 is a critical window of opportunity and that engagement among all negotiators must intensify and expand to complete an agreement that will expand trade and open markets.” The EU's chief trade negotiator has said he expects Doha, which is aimed at lowering global trade barriers to stimulate economic activity, will be successfully completed in 2011. David Parsons, a longtime economic expert here in Washington, told Bikya Masr that he expects the economies of individual countries to become more global in tactics in the coming years. “These agreements and open discussion about local economies within a larger context is part of the ongoing game of creating a truly global economy,” he said. “No longer can the United States or Europe sit back and focus on their own economy because it is so intertwined with other countries and their policies,” he added. BM
