PARLIAMENTARY
CONFERENCE ON THE WTO Organized jointly by the
Inter-Parliamentary Union and the European Parliament Nineteenth session of the
Steering Committee 1 October 2009, Geneva
SUMMARY OF
DECISIONS
1. The
Steering Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO met on 1 October
2009 at IPU Headquarters in Geneva and was attended by 21 members of parliament
(see list of participants in Annex). The session was co-chaired by Mr. V.
Moreira, representing the European Parliament, and, partially, Mr. G. Versnick,
representing the IPU.
2. The
session took place the day after the annual WTO Public Forum (Geneva, 28-30
September), with its exceptionally rich and diversified programme of events.
The fact that many members of the Steering Committee had taken part in the
Forum, including the parliamentary panel entitled "Can protectionism
protect trade? The legislator's perspective", provided a positive
background for the Committee's deliberations and helped to enrich its content.
For that reason, the Steering Committee supported the holding of its meetings
back-to-back with the annual session of the WTO Public Forum and expressed the
wish to see that practice continued in the future, whenever possible.
3. This
year's WTO Public Forum was marked by an unprecedented global economic crisis
on the one hand and by protracted problems in the Doha Round negotiations on
the other. Some of the discussions that had taken place during the Forum were
echoed in the Steering Committee. Reference was made, for example, to the
relationship between rule-made law (by WTO's Dispute Settlement Body) and
parliamentary supremacy. In the panel discussion on "Global Problems,
Global Solutions: Towards Better Global Governance", Mr. P. Lamy spoke of
a new global architecture in the making, wherein the G20, the international
organizations (WTO, WB and IMF and the WHO) and the UN system constituted the
three distinct nodes of a triangle. The Steering Committee wondered what place
parliaments had in such a configuration. Given the importance of these
questions, it was decided that they merited an in-depth discussion at one of
the future sessions of the Committee.
4. The
Committee was briefed on the state of play in the Doha negotiations by the
Chairman of the WTO General Council, Ambassador M. Matus (Chile), who made an
introductory presentation and answered four rounds of questions. The global
crisis had had a devastating impact on economies, both big and small.
International trade - the engine of growth for decades - had not been spared.
In the words of the Ambassador, more courage, political engagement and hard
bargaining were required to conclude the Doha Round by the end of 2010, but if
the recently demonstrated political will of world leaders was translated into
real substantive negotiation, the objective could be achieved. Parliamentary
support in this endeavour was crucial.
5. The
Ambassador spoke at length of the seventh WTO Ministerial Conference, to be
held from 30 November to 2 December in Geneva. The overall theme for the
Ministerial Conference would be "The WTO, the multilateral trading system
and the current global economic environment". The event was announced as a
"regular" Ministerial Conference, 19th session of the Steering
Committee: Summary of decisions 2. allowing the Ministers to address the global
economic crisis and the role of the multilateral trading system. It was not
intended as a negotiating session, since the Doha Development Agenda talks were
taking place on a separate track. The Conference would be based on a
"F.I.T" (full participation, inclusiveness, transparency) approach,
would not be structured around negotiating processes, would not have an
overloaded agenda, should not divert energy and attention from the DDA, and any
issue for action or decision should be agreed well before the Ministerial
Conference.
6. Responding
to questions about the possibility of establishing more formal links between
the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO and the intergovernmental process,
Ambassador Matus said that, in the absence of full agreement on this matter and
owing to the consensus-based nature of the WTO, it was not yet possible to
include parliamentarians within the organizational structure of WTO sessions.
He pointed out nonetheless that the legitimacy of the WTO process depended on
the support it enjoyed in parliaments. It was their responsibility to approve
the mandate for trade negotiations, ratify their outcome and provide
appropriate legislative and budgetary frameworks for the implementation of
agreements. More deep reflection on the role and place of parliaments in this
process was therefore necessary. Ambassador Matus promised to convey the
concerns of the parliamentary community to his colleagues at the WTO General
Council and to advocate for a stronger parliamentary involvement in the WTO.
7. For
their part, members of the Steering Committee undertook to raise this matter
with their respective Trade Ministers once again, asking them to revert to the
question of the status of members of parliament at WTO Ministerial Conferences.
One of the objectives was to add a separate parliamentary category of observers
with access rights to Ministerial Conferences.
8. Concluding
this part of the debate, the Chair, Mr. V. Moreira, said that it would be
important to maintain pressure on both the Trade Ministers and the WTO
Secretariat. As far as the European Parliament was concerned, he would raise
the issue with the European Commissioner for External Trade. Other parliaments
were likewise invited to pursue this line of action, including through holding
debates and hearings in parliamentary committees. In parallel, every effort
should be made to give more visibility to the Parliamentary Conference on the
WTO and to broaden its representativeness, including by the involvement of the
US Congress. The future possibility of bringing Australia and Brazil into the
Steering Committee was also evoked.
9. Having
turned to the question of its own work plans for the remainder of the year and
in particular in connection with the seventh WTO Ministerial Conference in
Geneva (see point 5 above), the Committee decided that it would be politically
important to ensure parliamentary presence at this event. More specifically, it
was decided that a special, enlarged session of the Steering Committee of the
Parliamentary Conference on the WTO would be organized on the second day of the
Ministerial Conference, 1 December 2009. The meeting would take place on IPU
premises (unless the WTO agreed for it to be held on its territory), and would
be open to all members of parliament attending the WTO Ministerial Conference.
They would have an opportunity to meet with some of the Ministers, WTO
officials and key negotiators, and to consider ways of contributing to the
revitalization of the Doha Round. A detailed programme of the enlarged session
would be elaborated by the IPU and the European Parliament as the Conference
co-organizers.
10. With
regard to its long-term plan of work, the Steering Committee felt that at least
one full plenary session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO would have
to be organized in 2010. Should a WTO Ministerial Conference be held in 2010, a
parliamentary session 19th session of the Steering Committee: Summary of decisions
3. would be organized in conjunction with it. As an alternative, a regular
annual session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO would be held either
in Geneva or Brussels. In addition, two sessions of the Steering Committee
would take place in the first and second half of the year respectively. They
would be devoted to preparation of the plenary session of the Conference,
including its agenda, debate topics, panellists, guest speakers, outcome
document, etc.
11. Finally,
the Steering Committee took note, with regret, that the National Assembly of
Niger had been dissolved and that there was effectively no parliament in that
country at present. Niger being one of the founding members of the Steering
Committee representing Africa, the Committee felt it was important to ensure
uninterrupted representation of that geographic region. To that end, in
conformity with Rule 4.5 of the Rules of Procedure and the agreed principles of
rotation among Steering Committee members, the IPU and the European Parliament
proposed that the National Assembly of Burkina Faso be part of the Steering
Committee for a period of four years, thereby replacing the National Assembly
of Niger. The Committee accepted that proposal. Annex
Nineteenth
Session of the Steering Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO
Dix-neuvième session du Comité de pilotage
de la Conférence parlementaire sur l'OMC
Geneva/ Genève, 1/10/2009
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
LISTE DES PARTICIPANTS
COUNTRY or ORGANISATION
PAYS ou ORGANISATION
NAME
NOM
BELGIUM - BELGIQUE
Mr. Geert Versnick, MP
CANADA
Senator Donald H. Oliver
Mr. Frederic Forge
CHINA - CHINE
Absent
EGYPT - EGYPTE
Mr. Moustafa El Saeed, MP
Mr. Mokhtar Omar
FINLAND - FINLANDE
Absent
FRANCE
Senator Jean Bizet
Mr. Edouard Denoël
GERMANY - ALLEMAGNE
Mr. Erich Fritz, MP
INDIA - INDE
Shri P.C. Chacko, MP
IRAN (ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF)
IRAN (REPUBLIQUE ISLAMIQUE D')
Mr. Seyed Hossein Hashemi, MP
Mr. Seyed Mostafa Zolghadr, MP
Mr. Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi
Mr. Ebrahim Alikhani
JAPAN - JAPON
Mr. Ken Kagaya, MP
Mr. Naokatsu Fuji
Ms. Mariko Higuchi
Ms. Nana Oyamada
Ms. Izumi Duggal Takagi
KENYA
Mr. Chrysanthus Okemo, MP
MAURITIUS - MAURICE
Mr. Shakeel Mohamed, MP
MEXICO - MEXIQUE
Absent
MOROCCO - MAROC
Absent
NAMIBIA - NAMIBIE
Mr. Tsudao Gurirab, MP
Ms. Clara Bohitile, MP
Ms. Elizabeth De Wee