thank you very much for the opportunity to debrief you on the fifth ministerial meeting of the Trade and Technology Council today.
Building on what Margrethe already said, let me give you some thoughts from the trade side.
We had constructive and open discussions across various topics. We discussed the economic security agenda in depth, and also trade facilitation, our efforts to build a transatlantic green marketplace and our cooperation on emerging technology.
We also agreed to hold the sixth TTC ministerial in Belgium in the Spring.
And that then would be the last TTC meeting in this political cycle. So we should focus on delivering good and concrete outcomes.
Concretely, by the next TTC, we want to make real progress in two areas: sustainable trade and economic security.
Under the sustainable trade pillar, we are aiming to :
- facilitate recognition of conformity assessment for green goods and technologies
- better use of digital tools that facilitate trade, in particular e-invoicing.
- develop further a green and resilient transatlantic marketplace.
Let me say a few words on each of these. First, on conformity assessment.
As time is short, we want to make sure that we agree with the US which concrete green goods and technologies we should focus on to ease the burden of conformity assessment procedures between the EU and the US.
Results there will depend on how much openness there will be on the US side to take this workstream forward.
In any case, aim is to reduce the burden of conformity assessment procedures between the EU and the US. We have consulted Member States on this as a basis for further discussion with the US.
And we hope that the US is doing their own consultations to allow swift progress.
Second, on digital tools to facilitate trade.
Our respective teams had good discussions on the similarities between our respective e-invoicing systems. The goal is to ensure maximum interoperability between our systems as they evolve. So we intend to set up a dedicated expert-to-expert working group for that purpose.
And finally, in the margins of the TTC meeting, on 30 and 31 January, we organised a stakeholder event on the topic of ''Creating Transatlantic Green Marketplace". Over 200 EU and US stakeholders attended in person in Washington DC and a similar number of people also connected online.
We received input on how to facilitate sustainable trade between the EU and US in key sectors for the green transition.
We are currently looking at the various ideas how they can feed into our next TTC and beyond. And in the coming weeks, there will also be a report on the event.
In addition, during the TTC meeting, I explained the economic security package that the Commission adopted on 24 January and our intentions related to export controls and investment screening workstreams.
While taking steps forward at home, partnering with a broad set of countries - to start with likeminded countries - is equally important for us. As two largest economies in the world, the EU and US must strengthen cooperation and compare notes on economic security.
This includes work on the resilience of supply chains.
For the next TTC meeting, we are fleshing out new ideas on ensuring resilient supply chains for the green transition, for example in the area of solar supply chains.
On export controls, we continue work in a coordinated manner to ensure enforcement of sanctions against Russia, also with third countries. And what is more, we continue to look at how we could further simplify the administrative burden linked to export controls
On investment screening, the TTC has facilitated a good cooperation between experts, including exchanging best practices in implementing our respective investment screening mechanisms as well as building collective understanding of evolving threats related to certain foreign investments and investors. So we are looking into ways to share some of these good practices with screening authorities of the Member States, likeminded partners and stakeholders.
Let me end with a few thoughts about the future of the TTC. We have laid a solid foundation over the last four years.
It has undoubtedly proven its worth across the board – whether as a key forum for our bilateral trade and tech agenda to discuss common challenges, or to work through differences on issues such as the Inflation Reduction Act.
Moreover, the TTC was - and continues to be - key for taking coordinated actions against Russia and its illegal war against Ukraine.
Going forward, we need to build on it with commercially meaningful outcomes.
But most importantly, we should not underestimate the TTC's role in terms of providing a trusted platform for EU – US cooperation on political and technical level. It is our view that the TTC should endure time and continue its work beyond the mandates of our current administrations.
The next TTC meeting will provide opportunity to reflect, together with the US, about options for the future of this platform.
We also welcome the interest of legislators on both sides and are ready to hear your views on this.
With this, we are looking forward to your questions and comments.
