U.S., UAE say still hope to reach free trade deal

U.S., UAE say still hope to reach free trade deal

By Doug Palmer
Reuters
Monday, March 12, 2007; 1:18 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and the United Arab Emirates still hope to reach a free trade agreement and plan to resume talks whenever the White House wins new "fast-track" trade negotiating authority, officials from both countries said on Monday.

"We are committed on both sides" to concluding a deal, UAE Economy Minister Sheikha Lubna Al-Qassimi said in a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "I do believe it's solvable," she added, referring to a disagreement over investment provisions that has held up the pact.

Sheikha Lubna spoke to the business group just one day after U.S. oil services firm Halliburton Co. announced it was moving its headquarters and chief executive to Dubai, one of the seven emirates that comprise the UAE.

She told reporters after the speech the UAE did not have a specific strategy of wooing oil services firms but was eager for all forms of foreign investment to generate growth. Last year, the country attracted between $12 billion to $16 billion worth of foreign direct investment, she said.

Halliburton's decision to relocate its headquarters to Dubai comes one year after state-owned Dubai Ports World's purchase of some U.S. port operations triggered a political firestorm in the United States. DPW later agreed to sell the port operations to soothe U.S. congressional concerns.

The United States began free trade talks with the UAE two years ago, about the same time it began negotiations with another Gulf Arab country, Oman, that has already led to a deal that has been approved by Congress.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031200624.html

If the Dems really wanted to screw Haliburton, they would block this trade deal.