Brussels, 18/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - During the 2015 annual session of the parliamentary conference on the WTO, which was held in Geneva on Monday 16 and Tuesday 17 February, nearly 300 parliamentarians from over 60 countries called on the 160 WTO member countries to “redouble their efforts” to conclude the Doha round trade negotiations (started in 2001) and to ratify the trade facilitation agreement (TFA) “as soon as possible”.
“We call on all parties to show the required flexibility and make the necessary breakthroughs”, state the participating parliamentarians, in a final document drafted by the rapporteur of the conference steering committee, Kil Jeong-woo from South Korea. “WTO members (…) must press ahead quickly with implementing all elements of the Bali package, including drawing up a 'clearly defined' work programme for the remaining Doha round issues. Members have no time to waste if they are to meet the end-July 2015 deadline. Too many deadlines have already been missed”, the parliamentarians continue, calling for “a balance” between the “key components” of the programme - agriculture, market access for industrial products and services - and “the special needs and interests of developing countries at the heart of the process”.
The conference reiterates that the WTO agreements “must bring tangible benefits to the poorest of its members first and foremost”, the least developed countries (LDCs), “including through the creation of new export opportunities for LDC services providers and simplification of regulations covering rules of origin”. Alongside this, the WTO member countries that have not yet met the 97% target for duty-free, quota-free access for exports from LDCs should “do so as quickly as possible”.
The parliamentarians also commit to contributing to the WTO member countries' ratification of the TFA “as soon as possible”. They state that this should benefit the global economy by between $400 billion and $1 trillion per year.
The parliamentary conference also re-asserts its reservations about the surge in plurilateral, regional and bilateral trade agreements alongside the “lack of progress” in the Doha round. “Such accords can stimulate trade between participants, open up areas of trade that are only partially covered by WTO agreements, and provide useful negotiating experience that can be subsequently applied in a multilateral context. We stress, however, that these agreements cannot take the place of multilateral accords, in particular in sensitive areas such as subsidies and barriers distorting global agriculture trade”, the final document states.
“We, the parliamentarians, must keep up the pressure on the executive to strive for a sustainable solution which delivers concrete benefits, the absence of which keeps developing countries hostage”, said chair of the European Parliament's international trade committee, Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany). Lange also stated that all the WTO member countries - developed, emerging and developing - “share responsibility” for revitalising the Doha agenda in 2015.
In his opening speech, Olli Rehn (ALDE, Finland) - who was leading the European Parliament's delegation - spoke of his “cautious optimism” as to the possibility of an agreement being found at the 10th ministerial conference of the WTO, in Nairobi (Kenya) in December.
Rehn and Lange were accompanied in Geneva by Pablo Zalba Bidegain (EPP, Spain), Paul Rübig (EPP, Austria), Reimer Böge (EPP, Germany), Viviane Reding (EPP, Luxembourg), Jörg Leichtfried (S&D, Austria), Pedro Silva Pereira (S&D, Portugal), Immaculada Rodriguez-Pinero (S&D, Spain), Emma McClarkin (ECR, UK), Helmut Scholz (GUE/NGL, Germany), Klaus Buchner (Greens/EFA, Germany), William Dartmouth (EFDD, UK) and Aymeric Chauprade (NI, France).
WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo urged the parliamentarians to continue supporting the WTO, including with the ratification of the TFA and an amendment to the agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) for developing countries. Azevedo announced that the WTO would strengthen its parliamentary outreach programme this year, with meetings already scheduled in Singapore, Mauritius, Jordan and Morocco. (Emmanuel Hagry)