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Mike
Moore's speeches
Renato
Ruggiero's speeches, 1995-99
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Mr.
Moore's speech
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Speaking here before an Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting on
International Trade, Mr. Moore said that Parliamentarians were
the elected representatives of civil society and as such held
responsibility to closely follow the work of the WTO and work to shape
its agenda.
“Parliamentarians
and legislators need to know about the institutions they own.
Parliamentary select committees should aggressively scrutinize the WTO
and other international organizations. We need this. It is healthy,”
he told the assembled Parliamentarians.
He
welcomed the initiative of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in holding
this meeting and said that he and the WTO secretariat are ready to
assist the IPU in any future trade-related conferences it may
organize.
The
multilateral trading system, he said, was not a threat to national
sovereignty but in fact offers all nations — but particularly the
smaller and weaker — the opportunity to enhance their sovereignty in
global affairs.
“My
argument today is that a multilateral system, far from being the new
colonialism, opens up the privileged positions of the powerful to
transparency and competition. The multilateral system, which is owned
by governments is not a new form of colonialism. It is, in fact, the
final nail in the coffin of imperial and domestic privilege,” he
said.
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Guide
on WTO policy issues for parliamentarians Governments
created the WTO's Agreements for a reason. This guide explains why
they did so. It also provides explanations about the important role
individual governments play in the WTO and just how much freedom they
have to protect their people, their morals, their food and their
environment and still benefit from trade.
> Download
the guide (pdf format, 48 pages, 741 KB)
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