An
Historical Perspective back
to topImportant
progress has been made in the WTO over the past year in
the area of external transparency and public outreach.
Although this issue received some attention when the GATT
was founded in 1948, the creation of the WTO five years
ago firmly recognized that increased dialogue with
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society
in general could play an important role in building
public awareness in respect of WTO activities. Whereas
there were no provisions for inter-action with NGOs under
the GATT, Article V:2 of the Marrakesh Agreement
establishing the WTO contains a clear reference to
cooperation with non-governmental organizations. In July
1996 Members decided to provide the Secretariat with a
more articulate interpretation of Article V:2 and adopted
the Guidelines for Arrangement on Relations with NGOs
(WT/L/162). These guidelines have since served as the
principal foundation upon which the ever increasing
interaction between the WTO and civil society has been
built.
Although
there is currently not a consensus in favour of involving
NGOs directly in the work of the WTO the guidelines were
designed by Members to give the Secretariat a large
degree of flexibility in its dealings with civil society.
This flexibility has been illustrated by the increasing
number of symposia as well as other initiatives to
increase the dialogue between the multilateral trading
system and the public.
Transparency
Initiatives back
to top
The
relationship between the WTO Secretariat and
non-governmental organizations continues to evolve. Since
1996, NGOs have registered an ever increasing presence at
WTO Ministerial Conferences and have participated in
numerous symposia organized by the WTO Secretariat. The
Secretariat hosts regular briefings for NGOs on the work
of WTO committees and working groups and extends each
month to the 139 WTO Member countries a list of
documents, position papers and newsletters submitted by
NGOs. These documents are made available upon request
from Member states. A special section of the WTO web
site, including a recently opened chat room for
interactive discussion, is devoted to NGOs. Finally, a
special electronic NGO bulletin is available to
organizations that wish to receive information on the
current status of activities at the WTO. This facility is
an integral part of the efforts to reach out to
individuals and organizations located all over the world.
Among
the most significant improvements in the area of external
transparency is the WTO web site. One of the most popular
web sites among international organizations it is visited
by an average of 200,000 individual users per month and
receives between 15 and 20 million hits per month. Users
of the WTO web site download the equivalent of 80 million
pages of text per month. The web site was re-launched in
a new, improved and more user friendly version in May
2000 and is continuously up-dated. The overwhelming
majority of WTO documents are placed on the web page
instantly and may be downloaded from anywhere in the
world.
The
WTO Secretariat has long had a reputation among
journalists of providing timely and comprehensive
information on the work of the organization. The
Secretariat has six full-time press officers who brief
the media after virtually all meetings of WTO Councils
and Committees. Taking into account the organization's
increasingly high news profile the Information and Media
Relations Division has recently added a Spanish speaking
press officer to ensure that briefings for the media may
take place in all of the three official languages of the
WTO. The Secretariat is also making increasing use of
information technology to inform the media of WTO
activities. This includes providing electronic press
releases and background notes on a regular basis.
Since
the Third Ministerial Conference in Seattle the
Director-General and his Deputies have kept up a
comprehensive programme of participation in international
meetings with the public and private sectors and NGOs. In
addition, the Director-General has participated in a
number of meetings with parliamentarians and
representatives from international parliamentary groups.
These activities have focussed on developing the WTO's
outreach activities towards civil society and on
stimulating a constructive dialogue with the public at
large on the future direction of the trade agenda. Other
WTO staff continue to participate in events hosted by
non-governmental organizations, academic institutions and
others all over the world.
Member
Discussions on External Transparency back
to top
Another
significant development in the area of external
transparency was the informal consultation in early
November held by the Chairman of the General Council to
discuss the issue. Drawing on the experience from the
discussions on internal transparency and effective
participation of Members the Chairman invited delegations
to submit written suggestions on external transparency
which would serve as a basis for informal discussions
among Members.
The
constructive discussion at the informal consultation on 9
November was a significant event in itself. A majority of
delegations welcomed a discussion of external
transparency, though some questioned the need for it.
Many delegations signalled that it remained the primary
responsibility of individual governments to keep the
public informed. In this context a number of delegations
expressed support for a process of exchanging national
experiences of interaction with civil society.
There
was broad agreement that the WTO should continue to
improve its outreach activities, including symposia, as
these had proved to be useful for delegations and NGOs to
engage in an exchange of views on a broad range of
issues. A large number of delegations highlighted the WTO
web site as one of the principal vehicles in the quest
for improved transparency and encouraged the Secretariat
to continue the efforts in that area. On the issue of
de-restriction of documents several delegations urged the
Chairman to continue his consultations on how to make
documents more speedily available to the public.
While
some delegations saw some room for further involving NGOs
in the work of the WTO, a large number of delegations
emphasized the intergovernmental character of the WTO as
well as the need to focus on the more substantive
elements on the WTO's work programme as a matter of
priority. Several delegations expressed the view that a
clearer distinction needed to be made between enhancing
public understanding of WTO activities, which they
favoured, and considering any direct participation of
civil society in the work of the organization. They
emphasized that efforts to improve the transparency of
the WTO should not affect the intergovernmental nature of
the WTO or change the existing representation system of
the organization.
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