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Hi, my name is James Boughner. I am the new Minister-Counselor for Economic Affairs in
the U.S. Embassy. I lived in Germany in Bonn and Cologne as a child and now I am very happy
to be back. Thank you for your question.
I don’t think there is any question that maximizing the degree of possible transparency
is going to be an important element to successful Transatlantic and Trade Investment Partnership
discussions between the United States and Europe. I think everyone recognizes that .
That’s precisely why our negotiators are going the extra mile to hold stakeholder engagement
sessions – sometimes large groups after negotiating rounds representing not just businesses,
but NGOs, the labor community, environmental and consumer groups, academia. And sometimes
one-on-one sessions with the goal being not just to make it as clear as possible what’s
going on but also to listen and elicit a broad range of viewpoints.
Of course – as with any other negotiations or discussions we also have to at the same
time provide some degree of confidentiality/privacy for the parties involved so they can have
a frank and useful give and take. It’s the only way to achieve real progress and move
the process forward.
Getting the balance right is not always easy but it is important and it is a top priority
for us during TTIP.