Brussels, 15/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Parliamentary Conference on the WTO will be examining international trade this year, as an instrument of economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction. A debate will also be held on how to boost the liberalisation of services.
Headed by Pablo Zalba Bidegain (EPP, Spain), a European Parliament delegation will participate with 50 other representatives from national parliaments on 15-16 November in Geneva in the 2012 work being carried out by the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO, which is focusing on the theme of “linking up policy and trade”.
The 300 delegates and trade specialists present at the conference are expected to adopt a final document prepared by their peer from Burkina Faso, Benoit Ouattara. In their declaration they are expected to “insist on the need for integrated and coherent national trade, industrial, labour market and social policies that focus on promoting productive employment, strengthening productive capacities and better coping with external shocks”. The declaration will also highlight that “the trade-employment nexus needs to be critically accounted for in the entire multilateral trading system, bearing core labour standards in mind … The winds of change blowing in many parts of the world reflect the aspirations of people for responsive policies that foster participatory and inclusive approaches”. The draft declaration explains that “such demands are symptomatic of a wider policy malaise and regressive social transformation agenda. For policymakers, this is an opportune moment to renew the social contract between the State and citizens and to reconsider the results of finance-led globalisation. Rebalancing the global finance and trading systems to make them work for the poor is part of the challenge”.
The European delegation includes the following MEPs: Georgios Papastamkos (EPP, Greece), Paul Rübig (EPP, Austria), Jörg Leichtfried (S&D, Austria), Maria Badia i Cutchet (S&D, Spain), Niccolò Rinaldi (ALDE, Italy), Judith Sargentini (Greens/EFA, Netherlands), Paul Murphy (GUE/NGL, Ireland), Claudio Morganti (EFD, Italy) and Catherine Bearder (ALDE, United Kingdom). (EH/transl.fl)