“What We Have In Common”
▪ This
evening we have assembled 110 leaders:
- 55 from the European & American governments
- 55 from European & American companies
- All partners in Trans-Atlantic growth & success
- We are each other’s #1 investors & trade partners
▪ Our
governmental leaders serve their voters
▪ Our
company leaders serve their customers
- These are essentially the same citizens
▪ Those
“citizen customers” look to you to provide leadership in reaching some
vital goals:
- Job Creation - in the US & Europe
- No social welfare system can compare to a job
- This requires business friendly regulations
- Which requires an appreciation for the virtues of the
business vocation in the larger society.
- The commercial career is a noble career, just as is
public office. Both focus on serving others.
- And job creation requires a climate of innovation
- All this, while protecting health, safety & civil
rights.
▪ These
citizen customers expect everyone in this room to work together to
reach those goals.
▪ We
stand at a point of rapid & significant economic change across the
planet.
▪ We
have never seen this scale & scope of change.
▪ European
& American commercial leadership is challenged as never before in
modern history.
▪ India,
Brazil, China and others have chosen to compete, adding almost 3
billion new capitalists to the global marketplace.
▪ To
meet global challenges, even the largest companies must seek
partnerships.
▪ All
of us here spend far more time working with our alliance partners, than
we do fending off our competitors.
▪ Worldwide
cooperation is the name of the game today. To be an excellent
competitor, companies & countries must now be excellent
collaborators.
▪ Trans-Atlantic
collaboration is the Mission of the European-American Business Council.
▪ We
are in the business of “1+1 = 3”.
▪ European
& American leaders – public & private - must be full partners
in creating what the EABC calls “horizontal government”.
▪ We
mean by this phase Washington – Brussels collaboration on “friction
free” commercial standards and regulations that will keep our citizens
and workplaces the most productive, innovative & competitive in the
world.
▪ To
this point, the EABC Policy Agenda includes the advancement of eHealth,
eAccessibility & RFID Technology,
- Mutual Recognition of Accounting Rules & Maintain an Open &
Robust Investment Climate.
▪ Surveying
the world, European-American commercial policy cooperation makes sense
for our customers, and our citizens. The reason is the common
values we share – and which are not yet embraced around the
world.
▪ They
Are:
- Dedication To Democracy & Freedom
- Separation of Church & State
- Support for the Rule of Law…
- Private Property Protection… &
- Intellectual Property Protection
- A Free Market Orientation
- Support for the Sanctity of Contracts
- Anti-Trust Traditions
- A Standard of High Integrity & Low Corruption
- And Stable, Transparent, Well-Regulated Capital
Markets
▪ These
are the values that unite us.
▪ These
are the challenges that engage us.
▪ The
stakes are very high.
▪ And
the stakes are far more than commercial in nature.
▪ We
thank you for your support of the work of the European-American
Business Council.
▪ Together
we can and will accomplish things of lasting value.
Good
evening!
