Home About Participating Companies Issues TEC Industry Consultation Facilitating Secure Transatlantic Trade Conference TABD Innovation Conference Healthcare 2007 EU-US Summit Media Section Past CEO Reports Economic Facts Mission Statement History Contact		TABD Mission Statement For nearly 60 years, the transatlantic relationship has drawn its strength and durability from many different forms of partnership, notably in the political, economic and security areas. The Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) - which is the key interlocutor with government on the transatlantic economic relationship - has been renewed under fresh leadership and with a 30-strong business advisory board consisting of CEOs from companies across a range of business sectors in the EU and the US. This will bring a changed focus as well as another source of energy for the economic partnership in its own right, while also recognising the need to ensure that the economic, political and security relationship is rooted in an awareness of our common interests and values. A strong transatlantic relationship enhances the capacity of the US and the EU to jointly influence global developments for the benefit of all countries, whatever their stage of development. The TABD believes that neither side should take transatlantic economic ties for granted and that both should work harder to avoid the periodic regulatory and trade conflicts that trouble the relationship. But the economic agenda must look beyond conflict avoidance and management to develop joint responses to common global challenges. We shall play our part in pro-actively identifying those challenges and recommending appropriate responses through well-informed policy advice based on positions determined through the direct participation of our member companiesí chief executives. The issues on which we will focus will be both transatlantic and global. We will encourage the EU and the U.S. to adopt convergent rather than divergent regulatory approaches to important financial and economic sectors so as to remove as many obstacles as possible to the easy conduct of transatlantic business. Our members are global operators whose daily experiences testify to the benefits of international agreements with transparent rules and procedures. This means we are key stakeholders in efforts to secure a successful outcome to the Doha Development Round and to develop policies that will promote growth and stability in the global economy. In short, we want to help a reinvigorated transatlantic alliance to foster global economic cooperation and development. Furthermore, we will provide a business view on how to foster a more competitive business environment, including for Small and Medium-Sized enterprises. Thousands of these SMEs are our business partners and their prosperity and efficiency helps to determine ours. The future transatlantic economic relationship has a hugely important foundation upon which to build. Transatlantic economic ties account for a third of global trade and 20 per cent of the world's foreign direct investment. The value of EU-U.S. trade in goods and services is in excess of $550 billion, 60% of U.S. FDI is from the EU and 46 per cent of U.S. investment abroad is in the EU, some $650 million. Americans consume a quarter of total EU exports, while the U.S. sends a third of its exports to Europe. Importantly, more than 13 million Europeans and Americans are employed by local affiliates of European Union and U.S. parent companies. We want the scale and importance of these economic ties to be better understood on both sides of the Atlantic. The TABD wants to contribute to their future growth so that the U.S. and the EU not only drive the global economy into a new era of stable growth and prosperity, but also ensure the permanence of a multilateral, rules-based trading system. In this way, the transatlantic relationship will deliver benefits for businesses and citizens on both sides of the Atlantic.
CONTACT INFORMATION: US TABD Office +1 202 775 3251         EU TABD Office +32 (2) 238 5240