Chamber Applauds President's Action to Modernize U.S. Export Controls System

Directives Will Enhance National Security and Competitiveness

Washington, D.C.-The U.S. Chamber of Commerce praised the directives announced today by the Bush Administration that would modernize the U.S. export control system. According to the Chamber, these actions are important steps towards enhancing national security and promoting global competitiveness, and will also contribute to making the system more efficient, predictable and transparent.

"It's time that we move away from an outdated export control system and align the process with our current security and economic challenges," said Dan Christman, U.S. Chamber senior vice president for International Affairs. "These measures move us towards a system that will protect our sensitive military technologies while at the same time maximizing the benefits of technological cooperation and trade with our allies."

High technology industries employ more than 4 million workers in the U.S. and one in six manufacturing jobs depends on exports of manufactured goods. High technology also accounted for $345 billion, or 37 percent, of all U.S. exports of manufactured goods in 2006, according to Commerce Department figures.

"We look forward to working with the Administration to implement the measures announced today," added Christman. "We also welcome the opportunity to work with the government to develop further necessary improvements to the licensing process, particularly to facilitate the licensing of U.S. cooperative programs with our closet allies and friends."

The Chamber is a founding member of the Coalition for Security and Competitiveness. It has worked tirelessly for the past ten months with senior officials from the National Security Council, the Department of State, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Defense to move forward a series of 19 recommendations for modernizing the export controls on the munitions list and dual-use items.

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

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08-08