Mar 19, 2007, 16:03 GMT
Berlin - The United States welcomes a proposal from German Chancellor Angela Merkel for an improved economic relationship between the US and the European Union, US Treasury Undersecretary Robert Kimmitt said in Berlin Monday.
Kimmitt said the immediate goal was to deliver an initial set of concrete results at the EU-US summit in Washington on April 30.
Turning to recent turmoil on world markets sparked by fears regarding the US economy, Kimmit said: 'The US economy remains strong. The outlook is positive.'
Speaking to a conference of Merkel's Christian Democrat parliamentary caucus, Kimmitt welcomed plans to cut the burden of EU regulations by a quarter.
'To enhance our transatlantic economic relationship, we must reinvigorate common efforts to address and reconcile our systemic differences and thereby reduce obstacles to economic growth,' Kimmitt said.
Merkel's initiative, made during Germany's EU presidency, 'sends a very strong political signal,' he added, while stressing that it would not detract from attempts to kickstart the stalled Doha Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks.
Kimmitt pointed to the recently negotiated EU-US Air Transport Agreement as demonstrating the two sides could 'reach common understandings on difficult economic and regulatory matters affecting our most important business sectors.'
Other areas being discussed were regulatory cooperation, enforcement of intellectual property rights, promotion of effective accounting standards and integrating efforts on energy security and climate change.
Contrary to the conventional view in Europe, the US viewed climate change as a 'serious challenge,' Kimmitt said, pointing to steps taken by the US to increase international interaction on the issue.
He highlighted also the publication of a set of principles by the US on financial regulators with the aim of addressing policy issues linked to the rapid growth of hedge funds and private equity groups.
Germany is seeking to coordinate the regulatory frameworks on either side of the Atlantic to lower bureaucratic hurdles and cut transaction costs.
On fears that the US home mortgage market was shaky, Kimmitt said the real estate market appeared to be stabilizing and that there had been no knock-on effects on consumer confidence.
The US authorities were, however, watching developments in the mortgage sector closely.
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