U.S., EU conclude third round of trade talks, paving way for political review

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- The United States and European Union (EU) on Friday closed the third round of the Atlantic free trade talks in Washington D.C., paving way for a political stocktaking meeting early next year to outline the future stage of the negotiations.

"We're now approaching the end of our third and final round for 2013 negotiations. So it's a good time to review where we are," said U.S. chief negotiator Dan Mullaney at a press conference after wrapping up five days of negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which aims to create the world's largest free trade area.

Following the first round of talks in July and the second round in November, the negotiators discussed all areas that would be included in the TTIP during the third round, including market access, regulatory coherence, government procurement, intellectual property rights, state-owned enterprises, investment and services, said Mullaney.

For the regulatory area particular, "we are continuing discussing various ways to facilitate the development of regulations on both sides in the Atlantic," with the goal of both achieving regulatory objectives such as consumer protection and minimizing "the cost and barriers to trade and investment caused by unnecessary divergences in these regulations", added Mullaney.

In the middle of the week, the negotiators on both sides also shared information with and heard viewpoints from more than 350 stakeholders from academia, labor unions, business and non- governmental organizations.

"I think we can be very satisfied by the end of this third round of talks," EU chief negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero said of the negotiations, who stressed that "we remain on track to deliver an ambitious trade and investment deal which will boost our economies, deliver growth and, more importantly, create jobs for both Europeans and Americans at a time when they're most needed."

The end of this third round marked the end of the initial phase of negotiations and paved the way for EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman to hold a political stocktaking meeting early next year, the European Commission said in a statement.

"In early 2014, we anticipate taking stock political level of what we have accomplished so far this year, and planning what need to do to move this negotiation forward in the year 2014," said the U.S. chief negotiator.

The fourth round of negotiations will take place in Brussels, Belgium, with dates to be announced soon, said Bercero.

The U.S. and EU leaders have set a timetable for completing an agreement by late 2014. A successful TTIP between the U.S. and EU will strengthen the transatlantic relationship and give the two bigger power in formulating future global trade rules.

Source: Xinhua