Abu-Ghazaleh’s “WTO at the Crossroads” Discussed at A High Profile Session in Geneva, Switzerland, WTO Premises
21-Mar-2013
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Special to ag-IP-news Agency
GENEVA - A high-profile discussion will be conducted at the World Trade Organization’s headquarters on the recently released report “WTO at the Crossroads: A report on the Imperative of a WTO Reform Agenda” by HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh who is a member of Pascal Lamy’s WTO Panel of experts on the future of world trade on March 22, 2013.
The discussion will be moderated by Carols A. Primo Braga, Professor of International Political Economy and Director of the Evian Group, an international coalition of corporate, government and opinion leaders, committed to fostering an open, inclusive, equitable and sustainable global market economy in a rules-based multilateral framework, and will be attended by Ambassadors Selim Kuneralp (Turkey) and Mario Matus (Chile) who will comment on Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh’s presentation.
The recommendations in the report, titled WTO at the Crossroads, represent the deepest reforms to the organization since it was created, in an effort to rescue the trade body from paralysis and irrelevance. The report also makes a number of recommendations that would improve the WTO’s collaboration with the private sector, and places greater emphasis on public outreach by the WTO Secretariat, in an attempt to cement a healthier and more open rapport with citizens and NGO’s around the globe.
The author passionately believes in the core mission of the WTO, and that the institution should take on a greater significance, given the massive global integration and dramatic economic changes that continue to shape the international community. Yet, at the same time, he believes the WTO is lagging behind today’s realities; that it must adapt its governance structures to the needs and demands that are driving our times today.
“Political decision makers must find the political will to reform the institution, just in the same way that their predecessors had the foresight to create the GATT in the aftermath of war and destruction," said HE Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh earlier. “Otherwise, I fear the WTO will drift, and become less and less relevant to global citizens and business leaders alike.”
To check the report:
http://www.tagorg.com/news.aspx?id=2492&group_key=news&lang=en
http://event.wtoarab.org/page.aspx?page_key=wto_report&lang=en