European Institute

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Category: Roundtables

Created on 27 May 2008

Daniel Price, Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs and Co-Chairman of the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC), offered his assessment of the progress made to date and the key challenges facing the TEC moving forward. This briefing followed the TEC’s second plenary meeting held in Brussels on May 13th where a variety of issues were discussed, including  information and communication technology products; import safety; poultry/pathogen reduction treatments; accounting standards; U.S. and EU regulatory capital requirements; REACH (the new European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use); and securities trading.

This meeting was supported by the Transatlantic Program of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany through funds of the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

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Category: Roundtables

Created on 20 May 2008

The evolution of European and U.S. defense procurement and industrial relations was at the heart of the discussion. Current moves to consolidate the European defense procurement sector may have a lasting impact on transatlantic industrial cooperation, and procurement rules are under examination in the U.S. as well. François Gayet, Secretary General of the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe presented the European industry’s perspective. Robert Bell, Chairman of the NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG) Study Group on Trans-Atlantic Defense Industrial Cooperation and Senior Vice President for European Business Development at SAIC, presented the results of NIAG’s report to NATO. Brig. Gen. Olivier-Pierre Jacquotte, Defense Cooperation Attaché at the Embassy of France, discussed France’s initiatives and plans for the French Presidency of the EU Council. Robert Kovac, Managing Director of the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, U.S. Department of State, addressed progress made so far and challenges ahead for the licensing process. Amb. Robert E. Hunter, Senior Advisor, Rand Corporation and Former U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO, moderated the discussion.

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Category: Roundtables

Created on 07 May 2008

The Honorable Sauli Niinistö, Speaker of the Parliament of Finland addressed the challenges to maintaining competitiveness in the current global economic environment. Finland was ranked sixth overall in the World Economic Forum’s 2007-2008 Global Competiveness Index. The categories in which Finland consistently out-performed others were that of:  institutions, higher education and training, and innovation. The U.S. perspective was presented by Leon Sequeira, Assistant Secretary for Policy, U.S. Department of Labor, who is a principal advisor to the Secretary of Labor on regulatory, legislative and policy issues affecting the Department and the American workforce.

Article Information

Category: Roundtables

Created on 10 April 2008

Antonio De Lecea, Director for International Economic and Financial Affairs at the European Commission, offered his assessment of the European Commission’s proposed common approach to sovereign wealth funds, and Nova Daly, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Investment Security at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, examined the role of CFIUS in regulating the flow of sovereign wealth funds into the United States. The Hon. Patrick Mulloy, Member, U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission expressed his concern about sovereign wealth funds and their influence on the U.S. government and economy. Klaus Stein, IMF Executive Director for Germany; Jarle Bergo, Alternate IMF Director for the Nordic/Baltic States; and François Teissonnière, Managing Director, Telecoms, Rothschild Inc. presented perspectives from Germany, Norway, and the private sector on the issue. Thomas J. Karol, President and COO of the newly formed Sovereign Investment Council emphasized the positive aspects of these funds and advised against excessive regulation that would lead to perceptions of protectionism. The discussion was moderated by James Mendenhall, Partner, at Sidley Austin LLP.