Brussels, 14/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, will be in Washington on 18 October for an interview at the White House with President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It will be the first bilateral meeting between the President of the Commission and the US President since 1989. Mr Barroso will be accompanied by the Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner (Commissioner Peter Mandelson declined the trip because of the Extraordinary Council of the EU Foreign Affairs Ministers on 18 October in Luxembourg: see other news).
Three major subjects will be on the agenda for the discussions in Washington, a Commission spokesperson explained on Friday: the state of the WTO trade negotiations on the Doha cycle; the intensification of transatlantic relations; cooperation on foreign and security policy. On this last point, the discussion will mainly focus on the Middle East and the situation following the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Before his departure, Mr Barroso stressed that transatlantic relations are good and that dialogue with Washington is producing “good results”. “We cooperate effectively in many regions of the world. My objective in Washington will be to further promote out economic and political relations”, he said. He stated: “President Bush and myself share the idea that our strategic partnership should serve to promote democracy, the rule of law and market economies all over the world”. In terms of trade and the global economy, “nothing is more important than success at the ministerial meeting of the WTO in Hong Kong in December, in order to set a framework for a general agreement on the Doha cycle”, President Barroso emphasised.