Doc. 9968

13 October 2003

The lessons to be drawn from the failure of the WTO Cancun Ministerial Conference

Motion for a resolution

presented by Mr Sasi and others

1.       The Parliamentary Assembly notes with regret that the WTO Ministerial Conference held in Cancun, Mexico, in September 2003 failed to reach agreement on the principles meant to inspire a successful conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda in 2004. This notwithstanding and although the collapse of the talks clearly constitutes a setback in the world community’s quest for a fair and balanced multi-lateral trading and investment system, the new situation also presents all sides with an opportunity to ponder the deeper reasons for the stalemate and to seek out each other in dialogue in order to identify areas of eventual compromise.

2.       Europe for its part must show greater openness to demands by developing countries for a reduction of agricultural subsidies, especially those for export, while developing countries must approach industrial countries’ concern for world-wide principles governing investment, competition policy, trade facilitation and government procurement in a more conciliatory spirit. All sides are urged to stop positioning and start negotiating earlier and on a more genuine basis in order to prevent the dangerous divide between richer and poorer countries which is opening up within the organization from becoming an unbridgeable gulf.

3.       More generally, the Assembly pleads with all parties not to bring to a halt the development of a WTO system which has been built over decades and which, for all its shortcomings, has produced greater prosperity for millions of people around the world, with the result that they may soon find themselves returned to the chaos of bilateral agreements between countries so characteristic of the pre-World War II era. This would in the first place exclude the poorest countries from the benefits of growing trade, when in fact the Doha Development Agenda was specially designed to take their interests into account.

4.       Parallel to the above, an unprejudiced scrutiny of the present WTO negotiating process should be undertaken and lead to reform, for the purpose of facilitating future agreements.

Signed (see overleaf)

Signed ¹:

Sasi, Finland, EPP/CD

Adam, Germany, EPP/CD

Blankenborg, Norway, SOC

Brunhart , Liechtenstein, EPP/CD

Dromberg, Finland, EPP/CD

Elo, Finland, SOC

Herkel, Estonia, EPP/CD

Högmark., Sweden, EPP/CD

Hooper, United Kingdom, EDG

Hurskainen, Finland, SOC

Kvakkestad, Norway, EDG

Kaikkonen, Finland, LDR

Mihkelson, Estonia, EPP/CD

Mas Torres, Andorra, EPP/CD

Westerberg, Sweden, EPP/CD

¹        SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group