Delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH participates in the work of the Parliamentary Conference on the World Trade Organization in Buenos Aires

The speaker of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PA BiH) Ognjen Tadić, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Trade and Customs of the House of Representatives of PA BiH, Šemsudin Mehmedović and the Chairman of the Committee on Finance and Budget of the House of Representatives of PA BiH, Predrag Kožul participate in the Parliamentary Conference on the World Trade Organization (WTO), which began last night in Buenos Aires.

This Parliamentary Conference, held in the capital of Argentina, ahead of the 11th Ministerial Conference of the WTO, was jointly organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the European Parliament, gathered about 250 parliamentarians from more than 60 countries and international parliamentary organizations from all over the world.

Key conference officials who addressed the participants during the inaugural session did not hide the ambition to turn this assembly into the parliamentary dimension of the WTO. In this regard, the speaker of the House of Representatives of the Congress of Argentina Emilio Monzo, the speaker of the Senate of Argentina Marta Gabriel Michetti, the President of the IPU, Gabriel Cuevas Barron, and the Vice President of the European Parliament, Mairead Mc Guinness, warned that it had been a long time ago when foreign and trade policy were in the exclusive powers of the executive authorities, and stated that it is very important to ensure the existence of a parliamentary dimension that would oversee WTO activities, promoting the efficiency and fairness of action in the spirit of the goals set by the WTO at previous ministerial conferences.

Emphasizing that they advocate free and fair trade that would be beneficial to people all over the world, and to improve the development of the economy and reduce poverty, parliamentarians have urged the ministers of the WTO member states to work towards securing the goals of sustainable development of the planet, as well as on protecting of the environment. At the same time, the participants of the Parliamentary Conference in Buenos Aires have strongly advocated the promotion of dialogue between governments, parliaments and civil society in order to promote transparency of WTO work and rules, and to establish parliamentary oversight and influence in the field of foreign trade and to open talks within the WTO on key issues significance for everyday life of people.

On the margins of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO, the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina delegation had numerous informal meetings with parliamentarians from the European Union countries and other WTO members that can help our country to finalize negotiations for full membership in the WTO in the near future.

Tadić, Mehmedović and Kožul will attend the inaugural session of the 11th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Buenos Aires, the Symposium on Trade and Sustainable Development, and the Business Forum of the Ministerial Conference of the WTO. (end)