Participation in the WTO and Engaging with Stakeholders

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 ►General Council – On behalf of the Ministerial Conference – Meets in Geneva WT/L/161 Ro. P 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 Appellate Body DSB Panels Ministerial Conference General Council Goods Council on Services TRIPS Council TPRB Committees WG Highest authority Adopt decisions Environment, the Ministerial Conference Administer rules concerning trade-related aspects of Trade Policy Review Body Development, on behalf of Regionalism, Balance of Administer rules relating to trade in goods Administer rules at least every twosession) Dispute settlement mechanism (in session relating is. Body (DSB) (when intellectual property rightsservices the Conference to trade in Dispute Settlement not in years) 4 (TRPB) Payments, Budget-Administration-Finances, Accessions, …

DYNAMICS OF THE DOHA ROUND NEGOTIATIONS 5

Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czech. R 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 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 Hong. Kong. Ch Macao. Ch 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 Kyrgyz. R Moldova (Mongolia) Montengro Oman (Panama) Russian. Fed Saudi-Arabia (Ch Taipei) Tonga Ukraine Vanuatu Viet. Nam Fiji Papua New Guinea RAMs TROPICAL PRODUCTS (Bolivia) (Colombia) (Costa Rica) (Ecuador) (Honduras) (Guatemala) (Nicaragua) (Panama) (Peru) (Venezuela) Belize Barbados Antigua/Barbuda Dominican. Rep Grenada Guyana St Vincent/Grenadines G-33 Honduras Trinidad/Tobago Mongolia Jamaica Suriname Nicaragua St Kitts/Nevis St Lucia Panama Sri Lanka Turkey El Salvador R Korea Iceland Israel Japan Liechtenstein Norway G-10 Switzerland Ch Taipei

Informal, heads of delegations (Ho. Ds) Formal plenary (Trade negotiations committee, TNC) All members — no record. Reports from consultations /reactions Full membership — speeches /consensus decisions Bilateral, very small group consultations Green Room’ (Informal 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 Ministerial No. of registered NGOs 159 NGOs that attended 108 No. of Participants Geneva 1998 153 128 362 Seattle 1999 776 686 1500 approx Doha 2001 651 370 Cancún 2003 961 795 1578 Hong Kong 2005 1065 812 1596 Geneva 2009 435 395 490 Singapore 1996 235 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! Samer. Seif@wto. org Susan. Hainsworth@wto. org Serafino. Marchese@wto. org 24