PARLIAMENTARY PANEL WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE ANNUAL WTO PUBLIC SYMPOSIUM Geneva (WTO Headquarters, Room CR I), 22 April 2005

	Over recent years, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has established a tradition of holding annual public symposia where participants from governments, parliaments, civil society, the business sector, academia and the media jointly reflect upon the functioning of the multilateral trading system and analyse the institutional state of the WTO. The Inter-Parliamentary Union has been associated with WTO public symposia on a number of occasions (last time in 2003), having organized parliamentary events within their overall programme. The general theme of the 2005 WTO Public Symposium was "WTO after 10 Years: Global Problems and Multilateral Solutions". As part of the Symposium's programme, the IPU organized an interactive Parliamentary Panel on the theme The WTO at 10. The perceived loss of "sovereignty" due to WTO accords: should parliamentarians be concerned?. The Panel took place on Friday, 22 April 2005, at WTO Headquarters. It was open to all parliamentarians and other participants attending the WTO Symposium. The theme of the Panel was of special interest to legislators as elected representatives of the people. At the same time, it was of great importance to the WTO because of its mandate as an international rules-setting body. The authors of the recent Report on the Future of the WTO: Addressing Institutional Challenges in the New Millennium, prepared by a Consultative Board to the WTO Director-General, pointed out that numerous misconceptions existed in this regard. The interactive Panel considered the conclusions of the Report from a parliamentary perspective, thus providing a further input to the public debate on this sensitive issue.

RELATED SITES AND DOCUMENTS
	Invitation to the Parliamentary Panel [PDF]
	WTO Public Symposium 2005 (main page)
	The Future of the WTO. Report by a Consultative Board to the WTO Director-General [PDF]
	Report on the Panel Discussion "Parliaments and the WTO" held within the framework of the WTO Public Symposium 2003
	Brussels 2004 session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO
	Cancún 2003 session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO
	Geneva 2003 session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO
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Updated on 18 April 2005
PROGRAMME
Friday, 22 April
10 a.m. - 12.30 p.m.		Interactive Panel Discussion
		The WTO at 10. The perceived loss of "sovereignty" due to WTO accords: should parliamentarians be concerned?
		Moderator: - Mr. Enrique Barón Crespo, member of the European Parliament
		Panelists: - Ms. Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, Professor of International Law at the University of Geneva - Mr. Anthony Hill, former Ambassador of Jamaica to the United Nations in Geneva - Mr. Mohammed Khoshchehreh, member of parliament (Islamic Republic of Iran) - Mr. Kimmo Sasi, member of parliament (Finland), member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe