Trading places

The EU must rise to the challenges posed by the current economic downturn, writes Catherine Ashton

I do not underestimate the challenges ahead as we face the economic downturn in the wake of the financial crisis that has swept across the world. We have, the EU as a whole, to rise to these challenges – finding new solutions to our problems, building on our knowledge of what works and using our past experiences to inform our future choices.

When it comes to trade, that means understanding that an introspective, protectionist world will create a climate that makes it harder to recover – with negative consequences for businesses and for jobs.

We need to lock in the openness that has generated so much growth and prosperity in recent years. We need to provide a narrative for our citizens, our businesses and our trading partners that shows how we plan to use markets to create and sustain jobs, provide investment opportunities and innovate for the future.

For these reasons, my first engagement after confirmation by the European parliament was in Geneva with the World Trade Organisation, to see how to move forward the Doha round of world trade talks and conclude the technical negotiations – negotiations that were substantially complete when the talks stalled in July.

As leaders gather for the G20 meeting in Washington, I hope that as they consider the messages they wish to send to citizens – who are eager to hear not just how to solve the immediate problems but also about plans to take economies through these difficult times – a world trade deal will form part of their solution. We are working hard to make the case for open trade and for the Doha round to be realised.

These multilateral talks are important, but we also need to think creatively about how our relations with our major trading partners allow European businesses to compete fairly and effectively in the global economy.

I am, for instance, very conscious of the fact that of the three million small and medium sized enterprises in the EU, only around eight per cent export their products or services. We need to create the opportunities for those who do export to increase their markets, and offer new markets for those who want to follow.

This is about lowering tariffs and barriers and working in partnership across the European commission to offer tangible support to small businesses that need help to take forward their ambitions.

In EU trade we face new issues all the time – investment, public procurement, competition, enforcement of intellectual property rights and access to resources. To deal with them we need to have a flexible approach to our free trade agreements, tailoring them to support our economies and offer greater opportunities for our business community.

We have a great responsibility, too, to ensure that our trade policy does not produce social or environmental results here or anywhere else that run counter to our values and goals. So, for example, I want to see a better flow of European environmental investment and technologies to big emerging industrial markets where they can contribute to the shift to low carbon growth. Such trade would provide new markets for our expertise in goods and services that help protect our environment.

Trade policy will be more important than ever to the developing world. We need to share prosperity and growth more widely and create a fairer trading environment where emerging economies can grow, supported by our development programmes, and aided by our trade.

My ambition is to see sustainable economies providing for their people, supporting their industry and business and trading with the EU. To that end, I want to progress our discussions with ACP countries on the economic partnership agreements, recognising that we need to tackle the challenges we face in meeting our WTO obligations, but using them to build a long-term relationship using trade to support development.

I am looking forward to the dialogue with ministers and others from the ACP, and have invited all the ACP ambassadors to the EU to meet with me at their earliest convenience, in order to share ideas about the next stages of these agreements.
In a fast-changing world, we need a strong, proactive EU that projects through its actions the values and interests we hold.

In trade, that means keeping our markets open, offering opportunities to business, creating jobs and supporting the innovation that will offer prosperity to our citizens in direct pursuit of a more prosperous and sustainable world.