ITI BACKS U.S. MOVE TO JOIN TRADE TALKS WITH "P-4” COUNTRIES
02.04.2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ITI BACKS U.S. MOVE TO JOIN TRADE TALKS WITH “P-4” COUNTRIES
Prospect of Agreement with P-4 Countries “Critical” for High-Tech Industry
WASHINGTON, D.C. –Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) President Rhett
Dawson applauded U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab in leading the U.S.
government’s participation in trade talks on investment and financial services with
Singapore, Chile, New Zealand and Brunei – also known as the P-4 group of countries.
“Greater U.S. economic engagement in the dynamic Asia-Pacific region, with its growing
market access opportunities, is important for America and critical to the high-tech
industry,” Dawson said.
“ITI strongly supports the Administration’s plan to undertake trade talks with the P-4
countries because high-tech companies are heavy investors in the Asia-Pacific and
provide many of the goods and services that underpin the financial services sector. This
is an important invitation the United States could not refuse. These are some of the most
important chapters in any FTA.”
Dawson added, “We also applaud Ambassador Schwab's intention to engage
stakeholders to actively explore U.S. participation in a comprehensive free-trade
agreement with the P-4 countries. The United States has a proven track record of
bringing home gold-standard agreements that address not only investment and financial
services, but also vital issues related to intellectual property rights, government
procurement, telecommunications and regulatory due process.”
The P-4 countries have concluded a free trade agreement (FTA) called the Trans-Pacific
Strategic Economic Partnership, which entered into force in 2006. The P-4 did not,
however, negotiate investment and financial services chapters for that FTA and have
been planning to commence those negotiations early this year.
ABOUT ITI
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) represents the nation’s leading high-tech companies and works to advance public policies that boost innovation and global prosperity. ITI helps member companies achieve their policy objectives through building relationships with Members of Congress, Administration officials, and foreign governments; organizing industry-wide consensus on policy issues; and working to enact tech-friendly government policies.
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ITI member companies include Accenture, Agilent Technologies, AMD, Apple, Applied Materials, Canon U.S.A., Cisco, ca, Corning, Dell, Eastman Kodak, eBay, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, IBM, Intel, Intuit, Lenovo, Lexmark, Micron, Microsoft, Monster, National Semiconductor, NetApp, NCR, Oracle, Panasonic, SAP, Sony Electronics, Sun Microsystems, Symbol Technologies, Tektronix, Texas Instruments, Time Warner, Unisys, Verisign and Vonage.
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