The Irish and Dutch Governments must use their EU Presidencies in 2004 to end damaging trade disputes and put WTO negotiations back on track, IBEC and its Dutch equivalent urged today.
Irish and Dutch business leaders represented by IBEC and VNO-NCW launched a joint strategy document titled
A Growth Agenda for Europe
in the run-up to Ireland's presidency which will be followed by that of the Netherlands.
As two open economises, any delay in concluding the Doha Trade Round could seriously hinder growth in both countries, but also in the EU as a whole, they say.
Speaking at the launch of the document today IBEC's president Mr Maurice Pratt expressed the concern that "the EU is now struggling not to be the least developed economy in the developed world".
He urged that the 2004 Presidency must be used to foster better trading relations with the US and the rest of the world, especially following the collapse of the WTO meeting at Cancun. "If trade talks remain deadlocked, the 2004 Presidency must ensure that the EU takes a special initiative in re-launching constructive negotiations," he said.
Mr Pratt's Dutch counterpart, Mr Jacques Schraven, President of the VNO-NCW that the EU must seek to boost enterprise through less regulation and administrative costs if it is to realise its goal of being the most competitive economic region by 2010 as agreed at the Eu Summit in Lisbon.
He added that legislation should not be drafted in a vacuum, it must take on board what actually works in the real world of the marketplace. "In tandem, research and innovation must be strengthened if we are to create a truly knowledge-based economy."
The strategy paper calls for business friendly policies and the resolution of the damaging trade disputes between the EU and the US.