Brussels, 23/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - The newly-confirmed Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, undertook, together with his European counterpart, Commissioner Catherine Ashton, whom he met in Washington on Wednesday 19 March, to step up their efforts to improve transatlantic commercial relations, which have become bogged down by old bilateral disputes since the start of the year (EUROPE 9857). In a joint declaration, the people with responsibility for commercial issues on either side of the Atlantic stressed the importance of bilateral trade, which is worth nearly 2.7 billion dollars in trade in agricultural and manufactured products and services every day, whilst reiterating the strength of bilateral investment flows, which have so far exceeded the trillion-dollar mark. Ms Ashton and Mr Kirk also pledged their commitment to "step up [their] adverts to ensure that transatlantic trade and cooperation on multilateral issues of common interest provide the most solid possible contribution to the global economic upturn". To this end, they call for an "ambitious and well-balanced" conclusion of the multilateral trade negotiations of the Doha Round "as soon as possible". Agreeing on the importance for the G20 countries to observe their commitment to abstain from creating new barriers to the flow of trade and investments, Ms Ashton and Mr Kirk give their blessing to the control process started earlier this year by the WTO (EUROPE 9837) to keep an eye on developments in trade policy and protectionist measures taken by its member countries, in response to the economic and financial crisis. Lastly, they affirm their commitment to work towards the resolution of the transatlantic commercial disputes, stressing that these remain "a very small proportion [Ed: less than 2%] of the total volume of bilateral trade and investment". (E.H./transl.fl)