14/12/2005 (Agence Europe) -The Director-General of the WTO, Pascal Lamy, commented earlier this week, on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting of Hong Kong, that the World Trade Organisation has no mandate to work with the ILO (International Labour Organisation), even though it has a similar mandate for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, reads a press release by member of the European Parliament Poul Nyrup Rasmussen. In this press release, the former Danish Prime Minister states that the Party of European Socialists (which he chairs), civil society and the unions must convince the governments to give Pascal Lamy this mandate, particularly so that the WTO can start to tackle the problem of "decent work". During the meeting in Hong Kong with the Global Progressive Forum, the ICFTU (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions), the WCL (World Confederation of Labour) and the NGO Solidar on the subject "Decent Work- Decent Life-Trade for Jobs", Giampiero Alhadeff, the Secretary General of Solidar, said that "trade, combined with a genuine commitment for decent work throughout the world, is the way forward" and that we must "link trade with fundamental rights for workers". "A decent multilateral trade system can bring millions of people out of poverty", added Guy Ryder, Secretary General of the ICFTU.