By Zack Cronin, Office of Public and Media Affairs
The first round of negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) began today with an opening plenary session, and will continue this week as numerous negotiating groups meet to discuss the range of issues that the United States and the EU intend to include in a comprehensive trade and investment agreement.
Chief Negotiators Dan Mullaney and Ignacio Garcia-Bercero introduce their teams at today's opening plenary session.
These negotiations provide an opportunity to build on one of the world’s greatest overall alliances and both increase the already strong trade and investment relationship and strengthen the multilateral, rules-based trading system. Today’s attendees included U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro, and Chief Negotiators Dan Mullaney (U.S.) and Ignacio Garcia-Bercero (EU), along with their negotiating teams.
Ambassador Froman gave introductory remarks at the opening plenary, stating that he and Commissioner De Gucht intend to stay “very involved” in the negotiations, while still giving their respective teams “the space they need to move forward and find solutions.” Ambassador Froman closed his remarks by encouraging negotiators to “be creative, be flexible, and think outside of the box as necessary to make progress” and achieve an “outcome that meets the economic priorities of both the United States and the European Union.” The first round of TTIP negotiations will continue throughout the week.
