DOHA AND THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION
The first global parliamentary meeting on international trade was organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union June 8 - 9 2001 in Geneva. The meeting involved members who specialise in international trade issues in their respective parliaments. The meeting provided them with an opportunity to examine globalisation from a trade perspective and to discuss the legislative and oversight role of parliaments in relation to the WTO, the current multilateral trading system and future trade negotiations.
An important follow-up meeting was held November 11 in Doha. At the joint initiative of the European Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a parliamentary meeting attended by over 100 MPs adopted by consensus a Final Declaration. The Final Declaration restates the conviction that global trade is the concern of every individual, and society as a whole. According to the Parliamentarians, parliamentary participation is necessary to ensure a better representation of citizens and a parliamentary dimension to the WTO is therefore essential.
The meeting called for the 4th WTO Ministerial Conference to add the following paragraph to its final declaration: "Transparency of the WTO should be strengthened by associating Parliaments more closely with the activities of the WTO." In the event, of course, this sentiment was not reflected in the Ministerial Declaration; the task of addressing external transparency was clearly left within the exclusive purview of the WTO.
As expressed in the joint European Parliament/Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) memorandum of 5th October 2001, there are several views on how best to organize parliamentary work in respect of the WTO. Some have proposed the establishment of a standing body of parliamentarians, which could either be formally linked to the WTO or exist as a separate independent structure; others have suggested that the parliamentary dimension to the work of the WTO be provided through the IPU.
However, agreement was reached to establish a steering group to prepare a conference on trade issues in 2002. As part of those discussions, the steering group is expected to present options for a parliamentary dimension for the WTO.
ISSN 1492-7187, TRADE POLICY MONITOR, November 2001,
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