AS PREPARED

Ambassador Wos' Remarks to the American Chamber of Commerce Luncheon

January 14, 2004, 12:00
Radisson Hotel

Thank you very much Tim. And thank you Daria, and the rest of the board, for organizing this luncheon.

Over the past four months I have had the pleasure to meet many of you at my home, at events around Estonia, and at the Embassy, but this is the first time I have had the opportunity to address you as a group. Thank you for inviting me.

As I have said to many of you on different occasions, promoting U.S. business is one of my key goals during my tenure as U.S. Ambassador to Estonia. My door is open to you (as many of you already know.) I want to hear your problems, concerns, and, of course, I want to know of your successes.

We have a good team at the Embassy that follows business and investment issues and we have a great partner in the American Chamber of Commerce. Working together, we can continue to improve the business climate for those American companies already here and make all of Estonia – not just Tallinn -- more attractive for future U.S. investors.

I wanted to discuss with you today some aspects of the transatlantic partnership – something that involves Estonia now that it is a member of the EU. In my short time here, I occasionally have heard the argument that, now that Estonia is a member of the EU, Estonia must choose between a strong partnership with Europe and strong ties with the United States. As I wrote in an article in Eesti Päevaleht recently, that argument is simply wrong. Europe and the United States are moving together into the 21 century. We share history; we share values; and we share goals. Yes, we sometimes differ, but how many friends or married couples never differ? It's healthy to have differences. And we always welcome the views of our European friends -- even if they're different from our own.

As Europe and the United States work together to attain our common goals, Estonia plays an important role in that cooperation. It will never be the U.S. intention to somehow ask Estonia to “choose” between Europe and the United States. No such choice even really exists.

I would like to lay out for you some thoughts on how the United States and the European Union are working together. I would also like to talk about what the United States is doing to improve its trade and investment ties with the EU, and with Estonia on a bilateral basis, even after Estonia's EU membership. And finally, I'd like to share with you some of the initiatives we at the Embassy have been pursuing to build closer U.S.-Estonia business ties – like the very successful Baltic Ambassadors trade and investment mission which took place in London just last month.

As the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU wrote recently, “It would be impossible to imagine the European marketplace without U.S. business involvement and vice-versa.” In 2003, transatlantic trade was a massive 549 billion dollars, the largest trading relationship in the history of the world. Every day, a billion and a half dollars changes hands between Europe and the United States. Every week, Europe and the U.S. trade the equivalent of the entire Estonian gross domestic product. Even more significant are the investments made by U.S. and EU companies into each other's marketplaces.

The transatlantic economy generates an estimated 2.5 trillion dollars per year in sales and investment and employs more than 12 million Europeans and Americans. And no matter what happens in the world, the transatlantic economic relationship continues to expand.

But our relationship is not just about economics and trade. The United States and Europe accomplish great things in other areas when we work together. Our most important partner in coordinating humanitarian and development assistance efforts around the world has been the EU. Together, we have been addressing the scourges of HIV/AIDS, poverty, and hunger.

As the EU itself evolves, we are working together on an ever broader range of issues, including improving border security, breaking up terrorist and terrorist-financing networks, and stemming the threat of weapons proliferation.

We are working closely with the EU to encourage homegrown reform in the broader Middle East and North Africa. Meanwhile, the United States and the EU cooperate closely in encouraging progress towards a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The United States and the EU have a solid record of recent accomplishments. To name just a few:

Europeans are major contributors in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo;

We have worked closely with the EU to keep world trade negotiations moving ahead;

We are working closely with the EU on crisis management for Iran, Sudan, the Balkans and the Middle East.

The US - EU Financial Market Dialogue has imparted momentum to financial market reform in Europe, and has helped to defuse transatlantic tensions in an area vital to the functioning of the world economy.

Despite well-publicized early differences with certain EU member states on Iraq, the EU has pledged financial and personnel support for the upcoming national elections in Iraq to be held later this month, offered financial assistance for the U.N. Protection Force, and an expert team for planning a mission to Iraq on police, rule of law, and civilian administration.

These are all serious issues – some of the weightiest with which my government deals. And much of the success that we achieve on these issues will depend on our working relationship with the European Union.

Let me take a moment to say more about Iraq. Yes, we differed with France, Germany, and to some extent Russia on our plans for Iraq. But those differences are behind us now, and we all wholeheartedly agree that the only acceptable future for Iraq is a secure and democratic one. There is not a single leader in Europe, not a single Parliament, and not a single government that supports anything other than the success of democracy in Iraq. On that, we all now agree.

So, you see, it is crucial that the United States and EU work together. And that is one of the reasons that the United States wholeheartedly supported Estonia's recent accession to the EU. Countries like Estonia bring a great deal to the EU!

With accession, Estonia and nine other countries became part of the vast relationship that the United States has with Europe. When the EU added some 80 million new inhabitants and ten new members, it added members that are deeply committed to the freedoms that brought them through such successful economic and political transition. With membership, these countries got a vote and a forum to express their opinions.

Already, expansion has sparked useful debate in the EU on issues such as tax rates, trade disputes, and support for the rebuilding of Iraq. The new members are making their mark. It is clear that EU expansion has been good for Europe, and thus good for the creation of a stronger trans-Atlantic relationship.

But what are we doing to continue to improve our relationship with the EU? I will name just a couple of initiatives:

One of the barriers many businesses – from both sides of the Atlantic – have mentioned as a factor that hinders trade is differing standards and regulations in Europe and the United States. The United States and the EU need to better harmonize their regulatory approaches, basing them on scientific, risk-based analysis to avoid barriers that hamper trade.

The United States is encouraging debate on this issue and our U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels has organized a seminar entitled “Better Regulation: The EU and the Transatlantic Dialogue.” The program will bring 20 regulatory representatives from the new EU member states, including Estonia, for a day of training in EU approaches to regulation, followed by a second day of comparative approaches to regulation which focuses on how the United States approaches regulation.

I'll mention another initiative. At the June 2004 US-EU Summit in Ireland, U.S. and EU leaders committed to engage in discussion on how to further transatlantic economic integration, spur innovation and job creation, and better realize the competitive potential of our economies and enterprises.

To reach this objective, the leaders asked stakeholders on both sides of the Atlantic to participate in developing new ideas for eliminating trade, regulatory, and investment impediments to further economic integration.

The stakeholder input has already begun. Major corporations have sent input, as have organizations such as the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU, which represents all of you. I believe most of you here today would qualify as a “stakeholder” in this effort, so I would like to encourage you to consider working in groups or as individuals to submit ideas on either the U.S. or EU side. Let us know exactly what we can do to help you.

Both the U.S. and EU will work to collect and synthesize the information received and then both sides will create concrete proposals on how to enhance the transatlantic economic partnership. These will be discussed and presented to leaders at a future U.S.-EU summit. For more information on how to participate, you can contact the Embassy.

But just because Estonia is now in the EU, does not mean that we do not deal with Estonia on a bilateral basis. In fact, we have been active in trying to promote U.S. trade and investment to Estonia with efforts quite distinct from our transatlantic dialogue.

One major initiative to this end was the “Baltic Ambassadors' Trade and Investment Mission” which took place in London in December. At this event, organized and sponsored by the Department of State, the three U.S. Ambassadors to the Baltic States were joined by Prime Minister Parts and the Presidents of Lithuania and Latvia. Our goal was to present Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to major U.S. companies and investors who might not have considered this part of the world. The event was a huge success – more than 160 U.S. companies participated, including big names from the Fortune 500. Estonia was well represented by the Prime Minister, Enterprise Estonia -- and a few of your members – Daniel Bain of Galvex, Paul Oberschenider of OberHaus and Craig Rawlings of EPark. I think we will all see the results of this mission as new U.S. companies come to see the Estonian market for themselves over the next several months.

Another plan in the works is a Trade Mission to Narva, again sponsored by the Department of State. For this Mission, which will take place in May, we are recruiting U.S. companies that are working in Russia, Scandinavia, or even in Tallinn, that may be interested in the unique geographic and logistical solutions that Narva has to offer. Our partner in this effort is the Narva Business Advisory Services NGO. Amcham has also offered support for this event.

Finally, early this summer we hope to co-sponsor, along with Amcham, a workshop -- to which all of you will be invited -- on how to do business in the EU. We hope to invite speakers from our Mission to the EU, from Amcham EU, and from Amchams all around Europe to exchange ideas on how to best lobby member state governments and work together to bring change that will benefit American companies operating in Europe. For more information on any of these events, please feel free to contact Kelly Adams-Smith.

I hope that I have persuaded you today of three things – First, that the U.S. - EU relationship is tremendously important and that we are unequivocally glad that Estonia is a part of it. Second, that the U.S. and EU are working together constantly to improve our relationship. And finally, that the United States still values its bilateral relationship with Estonia and is taking steps to improve trade and investment ties between our two counties, even after EU membership.

Again, thank you for your invitation to be with you today. I look forward to your comments and input.