Under the theme of "WTO: The way forward", the 2018 session is addressing the challenges and opportunities facing the WTO and what parliamentarians can do to support sustainable and more inclusive trade. The session follows up on the theme of the WTO's 2018 Public Forum – "Trade 2030" - which was attended by many parliamentarians. The full programme for the two-day conference is available here.

Due to their constitutional role, parliamentarians play an important part in the multilateral trading system and the WTO. Any deal resulting from intergovernmental negotiations at the WTO will, in most cases, need approval from legislators. The aim of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO is to bring legislators' perspectives on international trade and the WTO to the attention of negotiators and other stakeholders.

The Conference provides legislators with the opportunity to examine developments in the WTO, obtain first-hand information on the state of multilateral trade negotiations and consider a possible parliamentary contribution to these multilateral processes.