WASHINGTON DC – U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab will participate in the annual World Economic Forum meetings in Davos, Switzerland January 25-27.  During these meetings, Ambassador Schwab will continue to consult with her counterparts and other trade officials in order to advance the World Trade Organization’s Doha Development Round, as well as discuss bilateral issues.

“The World Economic Forum provides an excellent opportunity to put a spotlight on the Doha Round’s potential to spur development and economic opportunity around the world through trade,” said Ambassador Schwab.  “I look forward to continuing discussions with trade ministers and exploring ways to build on the progress we have been making over the past few months.”

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization that brings together world leaders from government and the private sector to explore ways of creating partnerships to address global, regional and sector-specific issues.

In addition to meeting one-on-one with trade ministers to discuss potential ways forward on the Doha Round, Ambassador Schwab will participate in a number of World Economic Forum panel discussions.  In these discussions, Schwab will stress that the success of the Doha Development Agenda depends on creating significant new trade flows and that these new trade flows can come about only with meaningful reductions on tariffs and other barriers to trade in agriculture, manufactured goods, and services.

Background:

The World Economic Forum was incorporated in 1971, and is a non-partisan, not-for-profit foundation that operates under the supervision of the Swiss Federal Government.