Shaheen meets with E.U Ambassador to U.S. at pair of Manchester stops

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U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) on Sept. 17, 2021. Photo/Andrew Sylvia

MANCHESTER, N.H. – On Friday, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) welcomed European Union (E.U.) Ambassador to the United States Stavros Lambrinidis to discuss maintaining and strengthening diplomatic, economic and military ties across the Atlantic.

The day began with a fireside chat at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) discussing freedom, democracy and security as the U.S. and E.U address various global challenges. That event was followed by a tour of Jewell Instruments on Perimeter Road to look at products that make up some of the nearly $3 billion in exports from New Hampshire each year, with Jewell’s components vital for manufacturing vehicles such as subway trains and asphalt levers built in Europe.

Each year, $7 billion of investment comes to New Hampshire from Europe, maintaining just under 3,000 jobs, with trade between Europe and some New Hampshire companies like Jewell actually increasing during the pandemic.

Shaheen was grateful for the questions from students at SNHU ranging from climate change to Afghanistan and hopes to increase access for small and medium-sized businesses in New Hampshire to international markets such as the E.U.

“I think we need to continue to engage with our European partners, that’s why I am delighted why the Ambassador is here,” said Shaheen. “It’s such an important alliance for all kids of reasons: natural security, trade, our shared values, and we’ve got to continue to remind people as we look at what happened in Afghanistan and the continuing threats that we face that this is an alliance that has made the world safer since World War II and we need to continue to focus on that and work hard on making it work.”

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European Union Ambassador to the United States Stavros Lambrinidis on Sept. 17, 2021. Photo/Andrew Sylvia

Lambrinidis praised Shaheen and New Hampshire itself during the trip, also touting trade breakthroughs such as the recent end of the dispute between Boeing and Airbus. However, he also expressed the need for the two allies to increase artificial intelligence research and urged more negotiation to resolve other lingering trade disputes from recent years.

“(Shaheen’s) kind of leadership in keeping the focus on how important this relationship has been has been crucial over the last few years and we hope we can really accelerate (this relationship) to unprecedented levels,” he said.

The ambassador also saw the two stops as a precursor to a summit in Pittsburgh later this month focusing on tech-related trade issues between the E.U. and U.S.

 

About this Author

Andrew Sylvia

Assistant EditorManchester Ink Link

Born and raised in the Granite State, Andrew Sylvia has written approximately 10,000 pieces over his career for outlets across Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. On top of that, he's a licensed notary and licensed to sell property, casualty and life insurance, he's been a USSF trained youth soccer and futsal referee for the past six years and he can name over 60 national flags in under 60 seconds according to that flag game app he has on his phone, which makes sense because he also has a bachelor's degree in geography (like Michael Jordan). He can also type over 100 words a minute on a good day.