Geneva, 18 December 2018
Office of the
Secretary General
Dear Madam President,
Dear Mr. President,
It is my pleasure to write to you in connection with the recently concluded 2018
session of the Parliamentary Conference on the World Trade Organization, organized
jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the European Parliament (Geneva,
6-7 December 2018).
The Conference was attended by 250 participants, including 134 parliamentarians
from 54 countries. Topics discussed included challenges and opportunities facing the
WTO, solutions for a more deliverable and transparent WTO by 2030, the contribution
of parliamentarians in bolstering free and fair trade, parliamentary support to making
new technologies benefit the people.
The Conference called for urgent action to address the impasse of the WTO Dispute
Settlement Body, to improve the work of the WTO in light of the significance of the
multilateral trading system, to define more concrete strategies to achieve higher
standards globally through coordinated efforts to address the basic issues of poverty,
hunger and malnutrition in the developing countries and LDCs.
I am happy to share with you this substantive Outcome Document of the PCWTO
Conference. The Outcome Document and the relevant reports and discussion papers
can also be accessed on the Conference webpage at:
https://ipu.org/event/annual-
session-parliamentary-conference-wto-0/documents.
I would be grateful if you could share this document with the members of your
Parliament and engage in further reflection and follow-up on the subjects addressed.
Needless to say, we feel that this is particularly relevant in light of the deepest crisis
the rules-based multilateral trading system is facing. We would appreciate it you could
inform us of any action undertaken by your Parliament in this regard.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Chungong
Secretary General