WHAT FUTURE FOR THE WTO? 2016 Annual Session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO WTO Headquarters, Geneva, 13-14 June 2016 Organized jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the European Parliament

	Click to see the eBook The Parliamentary Conference on the World Trade Organization (WTO) is a joint undertaking of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the European Parliament. The principal objective of the Conference is to enhance external transparency of the WTO and hold it accountable to legislators as elected representatives of the people. Sessions of the Parliamentary Conference are held annually and in connection with WTO Ministerial Conferences (MC). The smooth running of this process is ensured by the Conference Steering Committee. The 2016 Annual Session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO will take place on 13 and 14 June, in Room CRI on the premises of the WTO, Centre William Rappard in Geneva. The overarching theme of the session is What future for the WTO?. In conformity with the Conference Rules of Procedure, the annual session is intended primarily for parliamentarians who specialize in matters of international trade in their respective parliaments. The Conference will provide them with an opportunity to obtain first-hand information on recent developments in the Doha Round negotiations and consider ways of contributing to the revitalization of this process. It will also be an occasion to exchange views and experiences with colleagues in other parliaments, interact with government negotiators and WTO officials and engage in a dialogue with civil society representatives. NEW: The highligts of the session are now available in a user-friendly format as a page-flipping eBook containing numerous photos, full texts of main documents, speeches and presentations as well as extracts of the debate. The publication is available exclusively in electronic form. Click on the image on the right to see the eBook (Adobe Flash Animation player software is required). A printable version of the publication can be downloaded as a single PDF file. Photos of the session on Flickr

Updated on 14 September 2016
SESSION DOCUMENTS
	Page-flipping eBook with highlights of the session		[English] [French]
	Printable booklet with highlights of the session (PDF, 4446 Kb)		[English] [French]
	Outcome document		[English] [French]
	Programme (version 14/06/16)		[English] [French]
	Speech of Mr. Krister Örnfjäder, IPU Co-Chair of the Conference		[English] [French]
	Speech of Mr. Bernd Lange, European Parliament's Co-Chair of the Conference		[English]
	Speech of Ambassador Harald Neple, Chairperson of the WTO Geberal Council		[English] [French]
	Additional information on the organization of work		[English] [French]
	Discussion paper on the substantive debate theme presented by rapporteur, Mr. P. Rübig (European Parliament)		[English] [French]
	Discussion paper on the substantive debate theme presented by rapporteur, Mr. A. Singh Thakur (India)		[English] [French]
	Discussion paper on the substantive debate theme presented by rapporteur, Mr. H. Scholz (European Parliament)		[English] [French]
	Discussion paper on the substantive debate theme presented by rapporteur, Mr. D.D. Gamede (South Africa)		[English] [French]
	Concept note for the panel discussion "Trade as a vehicle of social progress: The gender perspective" presented by Ms. I. Rodríguez-Piñero Fernández (European Parliament)		[English] [French]
	Presentation by Ms. Nurhayati Ali Assegaf (Indonesia)		[English only]
	Invitation		[English] [French]
	Advance information letter		[English] [French]
	Practical information note		[English] [French]
	Registration form		[Bilingual]
			[Bilingual]
	Rules of Procedure of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO		[English] [French]
	Steering Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO		[English] [French]
	List of international organisations invited to follow the work of the Conference as observers		[English] [French]
	List of participants		[Bilingual]
	Poster of the session		[English] [French]
	Photos of the session on Flicr		[All languages]
RELATED LINKS
	World Trade Organization		[English] [French]
	Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament		[English] [French]
	Geneva Tourism Office (hotel bookings)		[English] [French]
	The Parliamentary Conference on the WTO: A decade-long success story. Report to the 191st session of the Governing Council of the IPU (October 2012)		[English] [French]
PREVIOUS SESSIONS OF THE CONFERENCE
	Annual 2015 session (Geneva, 16-17 February 2015)		[English] [French]
	Bali session, in connection with MC9 (Bali, 2 and 5 December 2013)		[English] [French]
	Annual 2012 session (Geneva, 15-16 November 2012)		[English] [French]
	Annual 2011 session (Geneva, 21-22 March 2011)		[English] [French]
	Annual 2008 session (Geneva, 11-12 September 2008)		[English] [French]
	Annual 2006 session (Geneva, 1-2 December 2006)		[English] [French]
	Hong Kong session, in connection with MC6 (Hong Kong, 12 and 15 December 2005)		[English] [French]
	Brussels session (Brussels, 24-26 November 2004)		[English] [French]
	Cancún session, in connection with MC5 (Cancún, 9 and 12 September 2003)		[English] [French]
	Annual 2003 session (Geneva, 17 and 18 February 2003)		[English] [French]
Note: Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader

Updated on 14 June 2016
PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME
MONDAY, 13 JUNE
10:00 - 12:30	Pre-Conference session of the Steering Committee (in camera meeting, IPU Headquarters)
10:00 - 18:00	Registration of participants
15:00 - 15:30	Inaugural session
	Mr. Krister Örnfjäder, MP (Sweden), Co-Chairman of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO Mr. Bernd Lange, Chairman of the Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament, Co-Chairman of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO Ambassador Harald Neple, Permanent Representative of Norway to the WTO, Chairperson of the WTO General Council
15:30 - 16:30	Presentation of reports and interactive debate on the substantive theme
	Making trade work for development after Nairobi
	Rapporteurs Mr. Paul Rübig, Member of the European Parliament Mr. Anurag Singh Thakur, MP (India) Mr. Helmut Scholz, Member of the European Parliament Mr. Dennis Dumisani Gamede, MP (South Africa)
16:30 - 18:00	Dialogue with senior WTO negotiators and officials
	WTO in the era of mega-regional trade agreements
	Guest Speakers Ambassador Daniel Blockert, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the WTO, Chairman of the WTO Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Ambassador Marc Vanheukelen, Permanent Representative of the European Union to the WTO in Geneva Ambassador Amr Ramadan, Permanent Representative of Egypt to the WTO Ambassador Junichi Ihara, Permanent Representative of Japan to the WTO Ambassador Fernando De Mateo Y Venturini, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the WTO
	Moderator Mr. Bernd Lange, Chairman of the Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament, Co-Chairman of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO
18:00 - 19:30	Reception at the WTO
20:00 - 22:00	Steering Committee (in camera meeting, IPU Headquarters)
TUESDAY, 14 JUNE
10:00 - 11:00	Hearing with the WTO Deputy Director-General, Mr. Karl Brauner
	Post-Nairobi work: reflections on the future of the WTO
11:00 - 11:20	Briefing session
	Enacting the Trade Facilitation Agreement
	Keynote speaker Ms. Nora Neufeld (WTO Secretariat)
11:20 - 13:00	Continuation of interactive debate on the substantive theme
	Making trade work for development after Nairobi
13:00 - 15:00	Lunch break
15:00 - 16:30	Panel discussion
	Trade as a vehicle of social progress: The gender perspective
	Panelists Ms. Nurhayati Ali Assegaf, MP (Indonesia) Senator Azam Swat (Pakistan) Ms. Arancha González, Executive Director, International Trade Centre Ms. Noraini Ahmad, MP (Malaysia), Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
	Moderator Ms. Inmaculada Rodríguez-Piñero Fernández, Member of the European Parliament
16:30 - 17:00	Briefing session
	The riddles of the WTO dispute settlement system
	Keynote speaker Ms. Valerie Hughes (WTO Secretariat)
17:00 - 17:30	Closing session: adoption of the outcome document
	Rapporteur Mr. Bernd Lange, Member of the European Parliament

STEERING COMMITTEE OF THE CONFERENCE

The Steering Committee of the Conference is currently composed of representatives of the following parliaments and international organizations: Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Colombia, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden, Uganda, United Kingdom, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, European Parliament, Inter-Parliamentary Union, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and World Trade Organization.