Bericht zu Handen der Konferenz der IPU in Amman

Bericht zu Handen der Konferenz der IPU in Amman über den Verlauf der Verhandlungen der Parlamentarier anlässlich der UNCTAD-Konferenz in Bangkok.

Das "Comite on sustainable development" brachte rund 150 ParlamentarierInnen zusammen um die UNCTAD-Konferenz vorzubereiten und so einen starken Input geben zu können. Zentrales Anliegen war die Förderung des "good governance". Untenstehend der Bericht an den Rat der IPU im Wortlaut:

RESULTS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY MEETING
ON THE OCCASISON OF UNCTAD X IN BANGKOK

Speech of Mr. P. Günter (Switzerland) at the IPU Council session
(Amman, 6 May 2000)

Madam President,

Fellow members of parliament,

In April 1999, the IPU Council entrusted the IPU Committee for Sustainable Development with acting as the Preparatory Committee of the Parliamentary Meeting on the occasion of the tenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Bangkok. I am therefore addressing you today in my double capacity as the President of the Committee for Sustainable Development and the President of the Prepcom of the Parliamentary Meeting on the occasion of UNCTAD X.

As most of you would know, the Parliamentary Meeting took place on 10 and 11 February 2000 in Bangkok on the premises of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The meeting was organized by IPU and the Thai National Assembly in cooperation with the UNCTAD Secretariat. It was attended by nearly 200 delegates from 53 countries.

Special significance should be attached to the fact that the Parliamentary Meeting in Bangkok was an official parallel event of UNCTAD X and an integral part of its overall programme. In many ways, the meeting in Bangkok opened a new chapter in IPU relations with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development - an intergovernmental subsidiary of the UN General Assembly which is playing a leading role in ensuring equitable integration of developing countries and economies-in-transition into the world economy.

When the IPU Council decided to hold a Parliamentary Meeting on the occasion of UNCTAD X, one of its main objectives was to enhance parliamentary involvement in this intergovernmental conference. There is therefore every reason to be satisfied with the fact that many national delegations to UNCTAD X did include members of parliament and that their participation in the deliberations of the session was active and visible in many ways.

The Parliamentary Meeting itself was held on the eve of the inter-governmental conference. The meeting was solemnly inaugurated by the President of the Privy Council of Thailand, General Prem Tinsulanonda. The inaugural session was also addressed by the President of the IPU Council, Mrs Najma Heptulla, the Secretary-General of UNCTAD, Mr Rubens Ricupero, the Prime Minister of Thailand, Mr Chuan Leekpai, and the President of the Thai Senate, Mr Meechai Ruchupan.

As you can see, the level of protocol attention to the meeting was very high both on the part of the Thai authorities and the UNCTAD leadership. This attention was only accentuated by the fact that the main keynote speaker of the meeting was Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand and President of the UNCTAD X session who, incidentally, is the future Director-General of the World Trade Organisation.

I take this opportunity to thank the representatives of the Thai National Assembly present with us today for the high quality of preparations carried out by the hosts of the Parliamentary Meeting and for the warm hospitality accorded to its participants.

Those of us who were lucky enough to attend the meeting in Bangkok will no doubt agree with me that debate there was very interesting. It was focused on such issues as equitable trading relationships, finance for development, and management of global economy. It also allowed to exchange views regarding parliamentary strategies for effective follow-up of UNCTAD X.

A succinct presentation of opinions expressed by participants in the Parliamentary Meeting is contained in the text of its Final Declaration which was unanimously adopted at the end of the Meeting's deliberations and became part of the official documentation of the UNCTAD X session.

The Declaration was formerly presented to UNCTAD by the IPU Council President who addressed the plenary session of the intergovernmental conference on 15 February 2000. In her presentation, Mrs. Heptulla made special mention of the fact that the Declaration had been agreed by consensus and thus reflected the tremendous capacity of parliaments and their members everywhere to generate compromises even in the most controversial areas.

The Final Declaration is now in front of you together with an accompanying Council resolution, the draft of which was prepared by the Committee for Sustainable Development at its session in Geneva on 1-3 March 2000.

As you will see, these two documents set out the case for closer parliamentary involvement in international negotiations relating to trade, finance and development issues. They present a parliamentary perspective on the current state of globalisation and development and make proposals for the road ahead.

The first section of the Declaration deals with the impact of globalisation. This issue was very much in the center of preoccupation of all delegates who participated in the work of the Parliamentary Meeting.

The second section deals with trade liberalization and human development and makes specific recommendations relating to the next round of multilateral trade negotiations.

The following section relates to new international financial architecture and resources for development and focuses on the aims of revising the international financial architecture and on measures that need to be included in this exercise.

The necessity for multilateral systems - whether in the area of trade, finance, social or environmental regulations - to be transparent in their design, application and practice is addressed in section four of the Declaration. This section ends with a call on the IPU to build on its dialogue with the various multilateral institutions active in the field of trade, finance and development. Greater involvement of parliaments would make it possible for their members to convey the concerns of peoples everywhere to these institutions, to assist in building popular support for their action, and to contribute substantially to global development policy making, particularly in the field of legislation.

The last section of the Declaration deals with parliamentary follow-up action which should take place at two levels.

At the national level, it is proposed that parliaments follow up on the Final Document of UNCTAD X and on the Declaration of the Parliamentary Meeting through consideration in relevant parliamentary standing committees and, wherever possible, through plenary debate in parliament.

At the international level, the Declaration recommends that parliaments and their members work through the Inter-Parliamentary Union to ensure increased parliamentary awareness of the outcome of UNCTAD X. You will see in particular that the Declaration invites the IPU to establish a world directory of all parliamentary bodies and standing committees that address these issues with a view to facilitating sharing of information and experiences among them. It also invites the IPU to organise a global specialized conference on these issues by the beginning of next year. Finally, it invites the IPU to establish an ad hoc commission to look into issues relating to parliamentary follow up to the third WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle and to make appropriate recommendations for action.

In the opinion of the IPU Committee for Sustainable Development, all these proposals are timely and pertinent, and deserve to be endorsed by the Council. With this in mind, the Committee has included relevant provisions in the draft Council resolution.

Fellow delegates,

I conclude my presentation by appealing to you to endorse the Final Declaration of the Parliamentary Meeting held on the occasion of UNCTAD X in Bangkok and to adopt the proposed draft Council resolution submitted to you by the Committee for Sustainable Development.

Thank you.