1 / 24

Participation in the WTO and Engaging with Stakeholders

Participation in the WTO and Engaging with Stakeholders. WTO: Who takes the decisions?. WTO: Structure. WT/L/ 161 RoP. Ministerial Conference Topmost decision-making body Meets at least once every two years General Council On behalf of the Ministerial Conference Meets in Geneva

hilel-bright
Download Presentation

Participation in the WTO and Engaging with Stakeholders

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Participation in the WTO and Engaging with Stakeholders

  2. WTO: Who takes the decisions?

  3. WTO: Structure WT/L/161 RoP • Ministerial Conference • Topmost decision-making body • Meets at least once every two years • General Council • On behalf of the Ministerial Conference • Meets in Geneva • Councils • Trade in Goods • Trade in Services • Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights • Committees, Working Groups/Parties, etc. WT/L/509 DG

  4. WTO: Structure 8 Ministerial Conference Appellate Body DSB General Council Panels Goods Council Council on Services TRIPS Council Committees WG TPRB Highest authority (in session at least every two years) Adopt decisions on behalf of the Ministerial Conference (when the Conference is not in session) Trade Policy Review Body(TRPB) Administer rules concerning trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights Development, Environment, Regionalism, Balance of Payments, Budget-Administration-Finances, Accessions, … Administer rules relating to trade in goods Administer rules relating to trade in services Dispute settlement mechanism Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) 4

  5. DYNAMICS OF THE DOHA ROUND NEGOTIATIONS

  6. HongKongCh MacaoCh Singapore Qatar UAE Brunei Kuwait Bahrain Albania Armenia (Cape Verde)(China) Croatia Ecuador FYR- Macedonia (Georgia)Jordan KyrgyzR Moldova (Mongolia) Montengro Oman (Panama) RussianFedSaudi-Arabia (ChTaipei) Tonga Ukraine Vanuatu VietNam AustriaBelgium     BulgariaCyprus CzechR Denmark Estonia Finland   France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland        Italy       Latvia Lithuania  Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania  Slovakia Slovenia   Spain Sweden   UK USG–1 G–90 LDCs Bangladesh Cambodia Maldives   Myanmar Nepal ACP ChadBurkina Faso Burundi  Togo Central African Rep Djibouti    DR Congo Mali   Gambia   Guinea   Guinea Bissau    Lesotho    Malawi  Mauritania  Niger Sierra Leone    Rwanda    RAMs Solomon Islands EU G-27 Gabon Ghana Namibia Mexico G-20 Haiti Fiji Papua New Guinea Benin Madagascar Senegal Uganda Zambia India China Venezuela Belize Barbados Antigua/Barbuda Dominica DominicanRep Grenada    Guyana St Vincent/Grenadines Trinidad/Tobago Jamaica   Suriname St Kitts/Nevis      St Lucia Botswana Cameroon Congo Côte d’Ivoire Kenya Mozambique Tanzania Cuba Indonesia Pakistan Philippines Peru G-33 Chile Brazil Bolivia Uruguay  Thailand  Paraguay Argentina     Honduras  Mongolia Nicaragua           Panama   Sri Lanka   Turkey El Salvador Nigeria Zimbabwe Australia Canada  Colombia Costa Rica  Guatemala   Malaysia  N Zealand Mauritius R Korea Angola Swaziland Egypt Iceland  Israel  Japan    Liechtenstein  Norway Switzerland Ch Taipei Tunisia Morocco Cairns Group African Group G-10 S Africa TROPICAL PRODUCTS (Bolivia) (Colombia) (CostaRica) (Ecuador) (Honduras) (Guatemala) (Nicaragua) (Panama) (Peru) (Venezuela)

  7. Informal, heads of delegations (HoDs) All members — no record.Reports from consultations /reactions Formal plenary(Trade negotiations committee, TNC) Full membership — speeches/consensus decisions ‘Green Room’(Informal small group consultations) Key players,reps. of all groups — hard bargaining, drafting Bilateral, very small group consultations TNC chair, DG Pascal Lamy

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. Stakeholders: Parliamentarians • Elected representatives of the people • Constitutional role on trade issues • Crucial interface between people, civil society and governments

  11. 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.

  12. 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”

  13. 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

  14. 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

  15. 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

  16. Participation of NGOs in WTO Ministerial Conferences

  17. 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

  18. 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

  19. WHAT ARE THE GOVERNMENTS DOING TO FURTHER ENGAGE STAKEHOLDERS?

  20. What are Governments doing? (1) • Government positions in the WTO context should be reflecting the outcome of wide-ranging 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

  21. 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

  22. 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

  23. 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

  24. THANK YOU! Samer.Seif@wto.org Susan.Hainsworth@wto.org Serafino.Marchese@wto.org

More Related