EU and US to issue first ever joint statement on open investment

EU and US warn on rising protectionist rhetoric - The EU and the US will use today's meeting of the Transatlantic Economic Council to adopt and issue their first ever joint statement on investment. In the face of rising protectionist pressures, the world's two largest investors will assert the value of an open global investment climate. The Joint Statement sets out for the first time in a joint EU-US declaration the fundamental nature of these policies to their economic prosperity. It affirms the commitment of both parties to promoting open investment policies at home and abroad. The Statement sets out the line for further joint work and serves as a touchstone for future policies in this area.

The EU and the US will use today's meeting of the Transatlantic Economic Council to adopt and issue their first ever joint statement on investment. In the face of rising protectionist pressures, the world's two largest investors will assert the value of an open global investment climate. The Joint Statement sets out for the first time in a joint EU-US declaration the fundamental nature of these policies to their economic prosperity. It affirms the commitment of both parties to promoting open investment policies at home and abroad. The Statement sets out the line for further joint work and serves as a touchstone for future policies in this area.

Commissioner Mandelson said: "This is the moment for the EU and the US to send an unambiguous signal about our commitment to openness to foreign investment. Politicising foreign investment not only raises unfounded public fears, but it threatens a protectionist turn in global investment markets from which everyone could lose".

The Joint statement (Memo 08/301):

Underlines the benefits of international investment in terms of job creation, competitiveness and sustainable economic growth, and stresses the importance of non-discriminatory and clear policies on investment.
Recognises the legitimacy of addressing national security concerns, but these should only ever constitute narrowly defined exceptions to the general rule of openness.
Insists on the important of appropriate transparency and commercial considerations in state-backed sovereign wealth investment.

This Statement is a result of the work of the EU-US Investment Dialogue, a cooperation forum in the area of investment set up at the first TEC meeting in November 2007. Read the investment statement.

The Transatlantic Economic Council

At the EU-U.S. Summit on 30 April 2007, Commission President Barroso, German Chancellor Merkel and US President Bush signed established the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) to oversee, guide and accelerate EU-US economic ties.

The Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) aims to integrate EU/U.S. economies even more fully by identifying key areas where greater convergence between economies and systems could reap rewards on both sides of the Atlantic. Bringing together government, industry, labour and consumers, the TEC holds the promise of an ever deeper and more mutually productive transatlantic relationship. At the first TEC meeting in November 2007, important progress was achieved in areas such as the launching of the investment dialogue, the negotiations on mutual recognition of accounting standards, and of U.S and EU trade partnership programmes, secure cargo, and a number of more technical regulatory issues.