Participation in the WTO and Engaging with Stakeholders

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Participation in the WTO and Engaging with
Stakeholders
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WTO Who takes the decisions?
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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
• Councils
• Trade in Goods
• Trade in Services
• Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
  Rights
• Committees, Working Groups/Parties, etc.

WT/L/161 RoP
WT/L/509 DG
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WTO Structure
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
Dispute settlement mechanism
Administer rules relating to trade in services
Dispute Settlement Body (DSB)

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DYNAMICS OF THE DOHA ROUND NEGOTIATIONS
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TROPICAL PRODUCTS (Bolivia) (Colombia)
(Costa Rica) (Ecuador) (Honduras) (Guatemala)
(Nicaragua) (Panama) (Peru) (Venezuela)
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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

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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

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Stakeholders Parliamentarians

• Elected representatives of the people
• Constitutional role on trade issues
• Crucial interface between people, civil society
  and governments

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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.

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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

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The WTO NGOs and Private Sector

• When Ministers adopted the Marrakesh Agreement,
  they also decided to include a specific reference
  to NGOs in Article V2
• 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

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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

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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

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Participation of NGOs in WTO Ministerial
Conferences
Ministerial No. of registered NGOs NGOs that attended No. of Participants
Singapore 1996 159 108 235
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

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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

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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

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WHAT ARE THE GOVERNMENTS DOING TO FURTHER ENGAGE
STAKEHOLDERS?
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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

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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

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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

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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

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• THANK YOU!

Samer.Seif_at_wto.org Susan.Hainsworth_at_wto.org Sera
fino.Marchese_at_wto.org