ADDRESS BY SENATOR DONALD H. OLIVER,
MEMBER OF THE IPU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, AT THE INAUGARAL CEREMONY
Geneva, 15 November 2012
Honourable
parliamentarians,
Distinguished representatives of governments and international organizations,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to the
annual session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO.
It is my great
pleasure to greet you on behalf of the world organization of parliaments, the Inter-Parliamentary
Union. Bringing together legislators from over 160 countries, the IPU takes
pride in embracing the full spectrum of geographical, political, cultural and
ethnic diversity that makes up the richness of today’s global parliamentary
community.
For nearly a
century now, our organization has been headquartered in Geneva. This city plays
host to a multitude of other international organizations, starting with the
United Nations. They serve noble purposes and do useful work. However, not all
of them attract as much attention from the media, parliamentarians and civil
society as the World Trade Organization. Why is that?
As we see it, the
WTO is unlike most other international organizations. Vested with binding
rule-making and adjudication powers, it is equipped with an effective dispute
settlement mechanism that serves to resolve trade quarrels and enforce
agreements. The WTO has a unique combination of powers and functions. Its rules
extend beyond the traditional domain of tariffs and trade in goods and reach
deep into domestic affairs. WTO rulings have direct economic consequences for
entire nations, as well as the private sector.
It is for that
reason that, ten years ago, IPU Members decided that the WTO required an
effective mechanism of parliamentary oversight.
Trade between
nations, they argued, is one of the cornerstones of the edifice of
international peace and cooperation. In an increasingly interdependent world,
they said, questions of international trade have become so important that they
can no longer be left to governments and international bureaucracies alone.
At the time, the
IPU and the European Parliament ventured to bring their synergies together in
order to build a meaningful parliamentary dimension of the WTO. Our common
undertaking is now known as the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO.
For the second
year in a row, the annual session of the Conference is taking place at the
Centre William Rappard, dubbed in Geneva as the “House of Trade”. A bridge has
thus been erected between the House of Parliaments – the name commonly used for
IPU Headquarters - and the House of Trade.
The political
symbolism of this link is hard to overlook. Following years of doubts and
hesitation, the WTO has finally opened itself up to elected representatives of
the people. External transparency of the WTO is a reality. This is a step in
the right direction.
I avail myself of
this opportunity to express our appreciation to the WTO General Council for its
understanding of the political importance of this opening. I also address words
of gratitude to the WTO Director-General, Pascal Lamy, who has always been
supportive of this initiative. In his own words, “the entire WTO stands to
benefit from the unique perspective that the world's parliamentarians are able
to bring”. Our sincere thanks also go to the colleagues at the WTO Secretariat
for their assistance and exemplary cooperation.
The WTO has
offered to host our session in spite of its own heavily packed schedule of
meetings held at its Headquarters. On average they organize over 8,000 meetings
per year. Just imagine that! What better proof is there of the incredible
complexity of the Doha Round?
Unfortunately, the
news reaching us from the WTO negotiation rooms is not very heartening. The
talks have been stalled for a few years now. Nonetheless, the WTO
Director-General has recently suggested that work in the Doha Development
Agenda had seen “signs of momentum” and that the main players were
demonstrating a “collective desire to re-engage”. We certainly hope so.
Tomorrow, we will
have an opportunity to ask Mr. Lamy about it first-hand. The Director-General
will join us for a hearing, whose format will be not unlike those we regularly
hold with Ministers in our own parliaments.
Let’s make good
use of this chance to ask questions and make comments. I suppose we should be
interested first of all in the state of play in the Doha Round and in what they
call “early deliverables” of the negotiations. At the same time, it would be
interesting to hear Mr. Lamy’s views, for example, on the challenges to
multilateralism and on lessons to be learned from the enduring economic and
financial crisis.
We should not
hesitate to also pose these questions to Ambassadors representing our
respective countries at the WTO. I see quite a few of them in this room. Let me
thank them for being attentive to our Conference.
It is Ambassadors
who chair various WTO councils, committees and working parties. They are
therefore responsible for moving the process forward or – let’s be frank – for
making consensus a little harder to achieve. As a member-driven organization,
the WTO is largely dependent on the work of the diplomatic corps in Geneva.
One of the
Ambassadors, His Excellency Mr. Shahid Bashir of Pakistan, is seated at this
table together with me. I take this opportunity to thank him for having
accepted our invitation to address the Conference in his capacity as the
current Chairman of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. Two other Ambassadors,
from Mexico and Sweden, will take part in our panel on trade in services
tomorrow.
As organizers of
the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO, we are convinced of the usefulness of
this platform for direct dialogue between parliamentarians and government
negotiators involved in WTO talks.
It is not by
chance that no fewer than five parliamentarians, former members of the Steering
Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO, subsequently received
ministerial portfolios in their countries and were given the responsibility for
WTO negotiations by the executive. On the other side of the same coin, the
Rapporteur of our Conference, Mr. Benoît Ouattara of Burkina Faso, is himself a
former minister of trade.
All of this gives
me good reason to hope that our discussions will be interesting and productive.
To enhance the impact of our debate by focusing on issues of particular
importance for parliamentarians, the Conference Steering Committee has decided
to give the session an overarching theme: "Back to basics: Connecting
politics and trade".
Indeed, the
situation with the Doha Round requires a political response. As
parliamentarians, we are convinced that a balanced, ambitious, comprehensive
and development-oriented outcome of the Round is still possible.
The main substantive
theme of our session is equally political and focuses on trade as a tool of
economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation. For us, trade policies
must reflect broader development objectives and be used as a driver of
prosperity. While discussing this subject, let’s not forget to look at our own
role as legislators in the formulation of integrated and coherent national
trade, industrial, labour market and social policies.
Debate on the main
theme will start today and continue tomorrow. We will listen to the views of
parliamentary delegates from both developed and developing countries. We will
also benefit from the expertise of internationally renowned experts. Some of
them are part of the recently established high-level WTO Panel on Defining the
Future of Trade. Their views are of great interest.
At the concluding
sitting, we are expected to adopt an outcome document. Its initial draft was
prepared by the Rapporteur, Mr. Ouattara, and placed on the IPU website.
Parliaments had until 5 November to submit their amendments – and many of them
did so. Tonight, the Steering Committee will conclude its consideration of all
the amendments thus received and elaborate a revised draft, which will be made
available to all delegates tomorrow morning. It is my hope that we will be able
to adopt it by consensus.
The co-organizers
have invested much time and energy in the preparation of the session. I wish to
express my sincere thanks to the leadership and staff of the European
Parliament - our partner in this exercise - for everything they have done to
facilitate the process. We hope that the session will be crowned with success
and look forward to a rich and constructive debate, in the true parliamentary
tradition.
With these words,
let me officially declare the annual 2012 Session of the Parliamentary
Conference on the WTO open.
I now pass the
floor to the Vice-President of the European Parliament, Mr. Georgios
Papastamkos.