Jax Hosting Major Transatlantic Trade Conference

[TheCat]

Jacksonville will be the host city for a stakeholder's conference on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, put together by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Jax Chamber.

The conference, held from Dec. 2 to 4 at the Downtown Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront, will provide information to businesses, policymakers and city leaders from both sides of the Atlantic on the trade agreement being negotiated between the U.S. and the European Union.

This is the first time a TTIP stakeholders meeting is being held in a city where negotiations are not taking place.
The decision to host an educational conference in Jacksonville may seem unusual. However, Wolzfeld said the decision — made by Luxembourg because it has the presidency of the EU council of ministers — was a very natural one.

"I think the plan has been discussed abundantly here in Washington, D.C., and in Brussels, but not outside the Beltway," he said. "We started an outreach program from outside of Washington to areas where we thought would be useful to spread the message."
Negotiations for the agreement have been going on for two years — the 11th round of talks happens in Miami this month — but Luxembourgish ambassador to the U.S. Jean-Louise Wolzfeld said this event is for the stakeholders, not negotiators.

At the Jacksonville conference, interested parties will learn about the partnership from panelists and enterprises familiar with the treaty. The schedule and speakers list has not yet been determined.

For many reasons, Wolzfeld said, Jacksonville fit the bill for this type of event.
"With Jacksonville, we took specific interest in that it is an expanding port that is interested in fostering transatlantic links, contrary to many ports in the region that are geared to Latin America," he said.

Secondly, Jacksonville has a treasure trove of medium-sized enterprises, helpful because the partnership would hopefully abolish significant red tape for small and medium enterprises.

Add in the investment in liquefied natural gas — which Wolzfeld said has many European countries seeing Jacksonville as a potential exporting hub — and the fact that Jax Chamber had been meeting with his team on trips to Washington, and the foundation was there to bring the TTIP to the First Coast.

"Jax Chamber was very interested in such an event, and we had very good cooperation with them, so we thought it was a good choice," he said. "Jax Chamber had contacted us a long time ago to promote its new harbor, the idea came up and matured....We thought 'Why not Jacksonville?'"

The feeling was mutual, said Christopher Quinn, vice president of government affairs for Jax Chamber.
"We want to be an international hub," Quinn said. "And we want foreign companies to look toward us. And they liked the idea of hosting something here."

Although the focus of the conference is on connecting the Southeast U.S. to members of the European Union, there is direct benefit to having it in Northeast Florida, Quinn said.

"We want to show Jacksonville can do things other communities can't," he said, adding that this is a chance to show European businesses that if they're going to bring their business to the U.S., they should look to the First Coast. "You can't be the first twice. If you want to break into a U.S. market, we want to show that Jacksonville is the place you want to start."

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2015/10/12/jacksonville-to-host-major-transatlantic-trade.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bizj_jacksonville+%28Jacksonville+Business+Journal%29

[spuwho]

If you go make sure there are no ridiculous ACTA clauses in the treaty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement