Concerned at the lack of progress in the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations, conducted under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a parliamentary Steering Committee composed of representatives of some 20 national parliaments and regional assemblies met at the headquarters of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Geneva to consider ways of enhancing the transparency and democratic accountability of the WTO.

The Committee endorsed the initiative of the IPU and the European Parliament to hold a special parliamentary session in Cancun, Mexico, at the time of the fifth WTO Ministerial Conference, where government representatives will gather for a mid-term review of the current round of trade negotiations, including the implementation of the Doha Development Agenda.

The parliamentary session in Cancun will take place on 9 and 12 September as a parallel event to the Ministerial Conference and will focus on some of the most controversial areas of current trade negotiations, such as agricultural export subsidies, intellectual property rights and access to essential pharmaceutical products, and trade in services. While leaving the job of actual negotiations to governments, members of parliaments intend to exercise their right of overseeing government action in this field.

In February this year, MPs adopted a declaration in which they insisted that "further trade liberalisation should take into account national development policies within an equitable rules-based trading system. The accession of new countries to the WTO is crucial to enable it to become a truly universal organisation. Our goal is to promote trade that benefits people everywhere, enhances development and reduces poverty".

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Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, the IPU, the oldest multilateral organisation, currently has 145 affiliated national parliaments and five regional assemblies as associate members. The organisation of the world's parliaments also has an office as Permanent Observer with the United Nations in New York.
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Contact for additional information or interviews:

Mrs. Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer 5, ch. du Pommier, CH - 1218 Le Grand-Saconnex / Geneva Tel. +4122 919 41 16/27 Fax: +4122 919 41 60, 919 41 97 E-mail: lb@mail.ipu.org or cbl@mail.ipu.org