Ideas for a more open European economy

The year 2010 is approaching and the Lisbon strategy will have to be replaced by a new strategy. The Foreign Ministry has asked the National Board of Trade to discuss ideas for external commercial policies to support the reforms carried out domestically to increase growth. This can be called an "external dimension" of a new strategy. For this purpose we have written eight reports, covering a range of areas. Each report contain at least one proposal for action. The threads that hold the proposals together can be summarised as making external trade increasingly become as smooth as internal trade, using a combination of policies that simplify trade, reduce formal trade barriers and, most ambitiously, sometimes use instruments/regulations devised for the internal market towards external trading partners. 

You find the reports below:

Summary
A common investment policy for the EU 
Facilitating trade in services
Measures for enhanced co-operation in the area of technical rules
Antitrust instead of antidumping in the Community’s bilateral trade agreements
An EU Helpdesk for Trade and Investments
Trade policies in support of innovation
Trade faciliation - proposals for more efficient border procedures
Evaluation of the external dimension of a new growth strategy

For any questions about these reports, please contact


Conference about ideas on how EU trade policy can contribute to a new growth strategy
On June 12, 2008, the National Board of Trade held a conference in Stockholm about the Lisbon Strategy and ideas on how EU trade policy can contribute to a new growth strategy. Read the program here 

You find the presentations below:

Director general introductory remarks
Speech by the Swedish Minister of Trade
Speech by Jörgen Holmquist
Presentation by Henrik Isakson
Presentation by Christer Arvius
Report by Stephen Woolcock

Remarks from other speakers and panelists