March 5, 2001
The International Parliamentary Union will hold a conference in Geneva in June to allow NGOs to put forward suggestions to improve the next round of WTO talks. The move is aimed at avoiding a repeat of the unsuccessful World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle ahead of the Qatar meeting in November.
Chart Thai MP Kobsak Chutikul, who represented the parliament president at last week's IPU and WTO meeting in Geneva, said participating members agreed to meet again to hammer out ways to end the deadlock at the Qatar meeting.
On June 7-8, 140 IPU member countries and 130 WTO nations will hear suggestions from NGOs and the civil society, he said. Last week's meeting found the Seattle talks were unsuccessful because NGOs and other groups were unable to convey problems facing developing countries amid the global economic slowdown and protectionism in Europe and Asia.More problems are expected unless the gap between the WTO and the NGOs are bridged. Mr Kobsak said the world's economy will not improve and protectionism will intensify, leading to a trade war.
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