U.S. and EC Pledge Broad Cooperation : Transatlantic: Declaration vows solidarity on trade, the economy and the environment. Canada and the European group reach a similar agreement.

The United States and the European Community adopted a sweeping transatlantic declaration today, pledging cooperation on trade, the economy and the environment.

A similar declaration was adopted Thursday night between Canada and the 12-nation EC.

“Transatlantic solidarity has been essential for the preservation of peace and freedom and for the development of free and prosperous economies,” the EC-U.S. declaration said.

The EC and the United States agreed earlier this year to twice-yearly meetings of their presidents, in addition to regular ministerial meetings.

Other areas covered by the declaration include human rights, transportation policy, telecommunications, preventing terrorism and money laundering, and curtailing the spread of nuclear and biological weapons.

Initially, a single transatlantic declaration was planned, encompassing EC relations with both the United States and Canada.

“We decided later that we wanted to have bilateral relationships, so it made sense to have a separate declaration with Canada,” an EC spokesman said.

The two documents, each four pages, are very similar.

Officials had hoped that the declarations could be adopted at the summit in Paris, earlier this week, of the 34-nation Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, but the drafting was not completed in time.

The declarations are carefully worded on free trade, saying they support further steps toward liberalization and the implementation of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade principles concerning both trade in goods and services and investment.

The United States and the EC are locked in a bitter battle over the current round of GATT talks, due to end in Brussels on Dec. 7.

U.S. officials say four years of GATT negotiations will fail unless the EC agrees to substantially curtail agriculture subsidies and address other issues.

The EC and North American powers promised to fulfill their responsibility to address transnational challenges.