EU and US pledge continued cooperation on the information society
On 17 September, delegations from the US and the European Commission met in Brussels at the annual Information Society Dialogue (ISD), and pledged to continue cooperating on telecommunications and information society issues of common interest to both parties. Following the meeting, participants described a convergence of views in the development of the information society. For the past 10 years, the two partners have used the annual ISD meeting to exchange information on regulatory developments in the US and Europe, as well as share their perspectives on multilateral organisations and conferences, such as the World Summit on the Information Society and the World Trade Organization (WTO). According to Ambassador David A. Gross, US coordinator for international communications and information policy: 'Our two delegations have used this meeting to find many areas for close cooperation, such as issues being considered under the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, encouraging liberalisation of telecommunications markets worldwide, assisting third countries to reach these goals, and working to create open, interoperable, non-discriminatory and demand-driven standards.' Fabio Colasanti, Director General of the Commission's Information Society DG and head of the EU delegation, said: 'This dialogue is a good example of the regulatory dialogue and transparency advocated by both parties and recognises the importance of information and communication technologies to achieve a sustained economic growth and to provide impetus to the EU-US economic partnership.' Mr Colasanti cited ongoing work within the ISD on issues such as spam and participation by disabled and older people in the information society as examples of how such cooperation was addressing issues of widespread public interest. During the meeting, officials from both sides also raised common concerns over regulatory standards and trade barriers in third country markets.
Countries
United States