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RESULTS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY MEETING ON THE OCCASION OF UNCTAD X (Bangkok, 10 and 11 February 2000)
Resolution adopted without a vote by the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union at its 166th session (Amman, 6 May 2000)
The Inter-Parliamentary Council,
Welcoming the results of the Parliamentary Meeting on the
occasion of the tenth session of the United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD X) which was organised by
IPU and the Thai National Assembly in cooperation with the UNCTAD
Secretariat in Bangkok, Thailand, on 10 and 11 February 2000,
Noting with satisfaction the fact that the Parliamentary
Meeting in Bangkok was an official parallel event of UNCTAD X
and an integral part of its overall programme, and that the President
of the IPU Council addressed the plenary session of UNCTAD X and
presented the Final Declaration of the Parliamentary Meeting which
subsequently became part of the official documentation of the
UNCTAD session,
Satisfied that many national delegations to UNCTAD X included
members of parliament whose active participation in the Parliamentary
Meeting and in the intergovernmental conference underscored the
mutual benefits of enhanced parliamentary involvement in UNCTAD sessions,
Convinced that IPU should energetically pursue efforts
to provide a parliamentary dimension to international negotiations
on trade and finance, thus advancing the process started through
consultations during the Third WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle
and continued at the Parliamentary Meeting in Bangkok,
- Thanks the Thai National Assembly and the authorities
of Thailand for their warm welcome to delegates and for the excellent
working conditions for the Parliamentary Meeting;
- Expresses gratitude to the UNCTAD Secretariat for its
efforts to facilitate IPU participation in the work of UNCTAD
X and for its assistance and substantial contribution, at all
levels, to the preparation and holding of the Parliamentary Meeting;
- Commends the outcome of the Parliamentary Meeting on
the occasion of UNCTAD X and endorses the content of the
Final Declaration which was unanimously adopted at its closing
session;
- Calls on all Parliaments to give due consideration
to the Bangkok Declaration and the Plan of Action adopted by the
UNCTAD X session, as well as to the Final Declaration of the Parliamentary
Meeting in Bangkok, including through plenary debate in parliament
wherever possible, and to make these documents available to parliamentary
bodies dealing with issues of trade, finance and development;
- Encourages parliaments to work actively for the implementation
of UNCTAD X recommendations, in particular by utilising the parliamentary
oversight function to ensure adequate governmental follow-up;
- Entrusts the IPU Secretary General with implementing
the recommendation to establish a world directory of parliamentary
bodies dealing with the issues of trade, finance and development
and to make this information available to parliaments and relevant
multilateral institutions, preferably in on-line format;
- Also entrusts the IPU Secretary General with
finding, together with the UNCTAD Secretariat, ways of introducing
targeted distribution of UNCTAD publications and materials, such
as the "World Investment Report", to relevant parliamentary
bodies;
- Requests the IPU Committee for Sustainable Development
to prepare proposals concerning the organisation by IPU and the
UNCTAD Secretariat in the four years leading to UNCTAD XI of a
series of parliamentary workshops aimed at assisting parliaments
and their members with the implications for national legislation
of specific trade and investment issues, and recommends
that the first such workshop be organised already in the course
of the year 2000 on the assumption that there would be no financial
implications for IPU;
- Strongly supports the proposal to organise a global
inter-parliamentary conference on trade, finance and development
issues in early 2001, and entrusts the IPU Secretary General
with carrying out necessary consultations to that end, in particular
with WTO and UNCTAD;
- Endorses the idea of establishing within IPU an ad
hoc body to look into issues relating to parliamentary follow-up
to the Third WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle, and requests
the IPU Secretary General to prepare practical proposals in this
regard for approval by the IPU governing bodies at their session
in Jakarta in October 2000.
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