Cancun session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO

In Cancún, MPs committed themselves to playing a role in trade negotiations

IPU President, Senator Sergio Páez (center), and IPU Secretary General, Anders B. Johnsson, have been received by the President of Mexico, Mr. Vicente Fox, in Cancún.

"We, parliamentarians, reiterate our commitment to promote free and fair trade that benefits people everywhere, enhances development and reduces poverty. The negotiations in Cancún should be a milestone on the way to implement the Doha agenda. They must deliver a framework for completing it on time and provide outcomes that are necessary to ensure that the commitments and promises made in Doha are respected", declared the 320 parliamentarians from 70 countries in a Declaration adopted in Cancún.

The MPs, gathered at the invitation of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the European Parliament, with the support of the Mexican Parliament, from 9 to 12 September 2003.

On 12 September, the Declaration was officially delivered to the President of the 5th WTO Ministerial Conference, Mr. Luis Derbez, Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In Cancún, the President of the Republic of Mexico, Mr. Vicente Fox, received the President and Secretary General of the IPU. At the close of the meeting, President Fox gave us his views on parliaments' role in the field of trade.

Mr. Vicente Fox, President of the Republic of Mexico :

"The presence of parliamentarians provides the political ingredient making it possible to "shore up" sometimes difficult decisions"

Q :Mr. President, do you feel that parliaments and parliamentarians have a role to play within the framework of negotiations on national and international trade and in relation to the WTO?
V.F.: Yes indeed, I see a role for MPs not only with regard to trade and the WTO but also in all international fora. The presence of parliamentarians provides the political ingredient making it possible to "shore up" responsible decisions that are sometimes difficult to take. Here in Cancún, we have seen how the question of trade needed to be clarified. Today, many persons see the WTO as a "bad boy", as though the WTO were disruptive or responsible for poverty. In reality, the opposite is true: the WTO is trying to establish a dialogue that will make it easier to take serious decisions for the good of all that reduce poverty. This is where the participation of MPs is both strategic and crucial in my view.

Q : In short, parliamentarians are a kind of bridge between citizens, ministers and presidential authority?
V.F.: Exactly! That's what politics is: the search for agreements, consensus and the incorporation of citizens' views. And parliamentarians are the right vehicle for that.