Brussels, Belgium - Today United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk concluded his three-day visit to Belgium. Ambassador Kirk met with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, EU Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht, EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy John Dalli, and EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacian Ciolos¸. During his meetings, Ambassador Kirk emphasized the importance of U.S.-EU trade and investment as a means of recovering and generating jobs on both sides of the Atlantic, discussed the U.S. commitment to a positive, ambitious and balanced outcome in the WTO Doha negotiations and stressed the importance of the U.S.-EU partnership to achieve that objective.
"This visit has reinforced my already strong conviction that the United States and EU are essential partners in an increasingly complex global economy," said Ambassador Kirk. "I've stressed, in all of my encounters, our determination to work with Europe to ensure that our trade and investment relations contribute, above all, to the recovery and generation of jobs - through our shared work in the Doha negotiations as well as efforts to continually deepen our bilateral economic ties. I want to especially thank President Barroso and Commissioner De Gucht for welcoming me here. I'm looking forward to a lot of productive work together in the coming months."
In addition to meeting with government officials while in Brussels, Ambassador Kirk also met with local business leaders, and environmental NGO and labor leaders. Additionally, Ambassador Kirk spoke at the joint EU AmCham/Business Europe/Belgian AmCham lunch, and participated in the German Marshall Fund Brussels Forum as part of the ‘Overcoming Unemployment - the Counterpunch of the Economic Crisis' panel.
