Left to right: Ambassador Peter Taksoe-Jensen; Steve Noyes, Vice President of Sales Biopharma, Novo Nordisk; Ambassador Laurie Fulton; Minister Mogens Jensen; Chris Bender, Head of public affairs and communications, Novozymes; Clint Eisenhauer, Vice President of Government Relations, Maersk
The Danish Minister for Trade and Development Cooperation participated in a working dinner with 20 representatives from ADBC member companies to discuss the US as a market and the potential for The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
At the dinner in the Ambassador’s residence on March 11th, the Minister presented the representatives with the new Danish export strategy for the US with 23 concrete initiatives within export, investment and innovation. With these efforts, it is the goal of the Danish government to increase Danish exports to the US by 25 percent by the end of 2016. The priority will be to strengthen Danish competitiveness in the sectors with the largest growth potential, such as Green Energy, Health & Life Sciences and Shipping.
The recently appointed Minister also talked about his priority for increasing trade benefiting Danish businesses over the coming years with the implementation of TTIP. According to Copenhagen Economics, the free trade agreement could lift Danish exports by $2.5 billion a year when fully implemented. The Minister emphasized that “strengthening trade and investment is the way out of the financial crisis. An agreement between the EU and US will be a crucial lever for our economies at a time when there is still a great need to create growth and jobs”.
The dinner also provided an opportunity for the Minister to learn from Danish companies in the US. Steve Noyes, Vice President of Sales Biopharma at Novo Nordisk; Chris Bender, Head of public affairs and communications at Novozymes; and Clint Eisenhauer, Vice President of Government Relations at Maersk, all shared remarks on their experiences operating in the US and their perspectives on the potential to be reached from a transatlantic agreement.
Finally, a dialogue followed between the Minister and the representatives about how to best include company perspectives in the process of TTIP negotiations. It was clear that ADBC and the Congressional Friends of Denmark Caucus will have an important role to play.