Participation in the WTO
and
Engaging with Stakeholders
WTO: Who takes the decisions?
2
WTO: Structure
►Ministerial Conference
– Topmost decision-making body
– Meets at least once every two years
WT/L/161
RoP
►General Council
– On behalf of the Ministerial Conference
– Meets in Geneva
WT/L/509
DG
►Councils
– Trade in Goods
– Trade in Services
– Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
►Committees, Working Groups/Parties, etc.
3
8
WTO: Structure
Highest
authority
Adopt
Administer
decisions
rules
on
concerning
behalf
ofReview
the
trade-related
Ministerial
Conference
aspects
Trade
Policy
Bodyin Balance
Development,
Environment,
Regionalism,
of of
Administer
rules
relating
to
trade
goods
Administer
Dispute
rules
settlement
relating
tomechanism
trade
in
services
(in
session
at
least
every
two
years)
intellectual
the
Conference
property
is
not
rights
in(DSB)
session)
Dispute
Settlement
Body
(TRPB)
Payments,(when
Budget-Administration-Finances,
Accessions, …4
4
DYNAMICS OF THE DOHA
ROUND NEGOTIATIONS
5
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus CzechR Denmark
Estonia Finland
France
Germany Greece Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania Luxembourg Malta
Netherlands Poland Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden UK
EU
G-27
Solomon
Islands
Mexico
G-20
India
China
Venezuela
US
G–1
G–90
LDCs
Bangladesh
Cambodia Chad
Maldives Burkina Faso
Myanmar
Burundi Togo
Nepal
Central African Rep
Djibouti DR Congo
Mali Gambia Guinea
Guinea Bissau Lesotho
Malawi Mauritania Niger
Sierra Leone Rwanda Gabon
Ghana
Haiti
Namibia
Benin
Madagascar
Senegal
Uganda Botswana
Tanzania Zambia Cameroon
Cuba
Congo
Côte d’Ivoire
Kenya
Mozambique
Indonesia
Pakistan
Philippines
Chile
Peru
Brazil
Bolivia
Uruguay
Australia
Thailand
Canada
Paraguay
Colombia
Argentina
Costa Rica
Guatemala
Malaysia N Zealand
Cairns Group
HongKongCh MacaoCh Singapore Qatar
UAE Brunei Kuwait Bahrain
S Africa
Nigeria
Zimbabwe
Mauritius
Angola
Swaziland
Egypt
Tunisia Morocco
African Group
ACP
Albania
Armenia (Cape Verde)
(China) Croatia Ecuador
FYR- Macedonia (Georgia)
Jordan KyrgyzR Moldova
(Mongolia) Montengro Oman
(Panama) RussianFed
Saudi-Arabia (Ch Taipei)
Tonga Ukraine
Vanuatu VietNam
Fiji
Papua New Guinea
RAMs
TROPICAL
PRODUCTS
(Bolivia)
(Colombia)
(Costa Rica)
(Ecuador)
(Honduras)
(Guatemala)
(Nicaragua)
(Panama)
(Peru)
(Venezuela)
Belize
Barbados
Antigua/Barbuda
Dominica DominicanRep
Grenada
Guyana
St Vincent/Grenadines
G-33
Honduras
Trinidad/Tobago
Mongolia
Jamaica Suriname
Nicaragua
St Kitts/Nevis
Panama
St Lucia
Sri Lanka Turkey
El Salvador
R Korea
Iceland Israel Japan
Liechtenstein Norway
G-10
Switzerland
Ch Taipei
Informal, heads of
delegations (HoDs)
Formal plenary
(Trade negotiations
committee, TNC)
All members — no
record.
Reports from
consultations
/reactions
Full membership —
speeches
/consensus decisions
Green Room’
(Informal small group
consultations)
Bilateral, very
small group
consultations
‘
Key players,
reps. of all groups —
hard bargaining, drafting
TNC chair, DG
Pascal Lamy
7
Stakeholders: Background
• What do we mean by stakeholders?
• The World Trade Organization is an
intergovernmental organization…..BUT…..
• Other important players exist : Parliamentarians,
Civil Society (Private Sector, Non Governmental
Organizations (NGOs), Trade Unions), Press and
Academia
8
Stakeholders: Background (2)
• Parliamentarians, NGOs, Business Community
and Academia
• Important caveat: Consultations with these
Stakeholders are primarily the responsibility
of individual WTO Members
• WTO Secretariat efforts complement what
WTO Members are doing within their own
stakeholders
9
Stakeholders: Parliamentarians
• Elected representatives of the people
• Constitutional role on trade issues
• Crucial interface between people, civil society
and governments
10
The WTO & Parliamentarians (1)
• WTO relations with the Parliamentary
Conference on the WTO and its Steering
Committee
• Annual Conferences are also held alongside
WTO Ministerial Conferences
• The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has made
many contributions to the way MPs should be
scrutinising trade and on the Executive and
the Legislative interaction on the subject.
11
The WTO & Parliamentarians (2)
• WTO enhanced outreach and communication
activities for Parliamentarians
• The first Parliamentary Conference on WTO
(PCWTO) was held at the WTO Headquarters
in March 2011
• DG Lamy: “the entire WTO stands to benefit from
the unique perspective that you — the world's
Parliamentarians — are able to bring …Your views
and your contribution enable WTO Members, and
the Secretariat alike, to better understand peoples'
needs and expectations, and to correct, or even
change, the WTO's course if need be”
12
The WTO & NGOs and Private Sector
• When Ministers adopted the Marrakesh Agreement,
they also decided to include a specific reference to
NGOs in Article V:2
• On 18 July 1996 the General Council further
clarified the framework for relations with NGOs by
adopting a set of guidelines (WT/L/162) which
“recognizes the role NGOs can play to
increase the awareness of the public in
respect of WTO activities”
• Doha Ministerial Declaration: para. 10
13
The WTO & NGOs and Private Sector
(2)
• Levels of engagement vary from facilitating
NGOs participation to Ministerial Conferences,
publishing their reports on the WTO website
(www.wto.org) and maintaining day-to-day
contacts, including regular briefings by the
Director-General and other WTO officials or
Geneva-based representatives
14
The WTO & NGOs and Private Sector
(3)
• Participation to Ministerial Conferences increased
from first Ministerial in Singapore in 1996 to the
latest held in Geneva in 2011.
• In 1996, 159 NGOs registered & 108 NGOs (235
individuals) made it to Singapore including
representatives from environment, development,
consumer, business, trade union and farmer
interests
• Thereafter, the numbers increased depending on
the venue and the interest
15
Participation of NGOs in
WTO Ministerial Conferences
No. of registered
NGOs
159
NGOs that
attended
108
No. of
Participants
235
Geneva 1998
153
128
362
Seattle 1999
776
686
1500 approx
Doha 2001
651
370
370
Cancún 2003
961
795
1578
Hong Kong 2005
1065
812
1596
Geneva 2009
435
395
490
Ministerial
Singapore 1996
16
•
•
•
•
•
The WTO & NGOs and Private Sector
(4)
The WTO Public Forum has become an important fixture
on the International calendar of the Trade Community
Unique opportunity to link Governments with all the
other stakeholders in one place
WTO Public Forum 2012: “Is Multilateralism in Crisis?” –
WTO Headquarters - 24-26 Sept 2012
NGO advocacy has fed into WTO proceedings, e.g.
fisheries subsidies negotiation
Many calls by business organizations such as the
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) are often
echoed within the intergovernmental process
17
The WTO & Academia
• Many academicians involved in WTO
economic research and technical assistance
actions  Higher School of Economics,
Moscow State University
• WTO Chairs Programme (WCP): currently 15
Chairs established in Universities  St.
Petersburg University
18
WHAT ARE THE GOVERNMENTS
DOING TO FURTHER
ENGAGE STAKEHOLDERS?
What are Governments doing? (1)
• Government positions in the WTO context
should be reflecting the outcome of wideranging consultations with all national
stakeholders (Private Sector, NGOs, Trade
Unions, Academics, etc…)
• All agreements negotiated at the WTO are
normally ratified by Members of Parliament:
in many instances, by far the more powerful
and bigger stakeholder
20
What are Governments doing? (2)
Illustrations of how Member countries of the
WTO pledge to engage with other
stakeholders
• EU, US and Turkey
• Other WTO Members
21
Some concluding remarks
• Ways to engage stakeholders vary extensively
ranging from complete denial to inextricable
relationships
• In many instances the management of the
stakeholders is a delicate exercise of
transparency for the governments
• Information flowing and sharing is key in
building a relationship based on trust
22
Some concluding remarks (2)
• Consultations should be wide-ranging and
generalized
• Consultations prior to negotiations can help at a
later stage, e.g. implementation
• Consultations allow the negotiator(s) to have a
panoramic view of the national interests at play
• If managed efficiently, engaging stakeholders can
strengthen negotiating positions, BUT it can be
difficult and tortuous
23
THANK YOU!
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
24