00-0645 MOREPRESS RELEASE
PRESS/169
21 February 2000
MOORE CALLS FOR CLOSER PARLIAMENTARY INVOLVEMENT
IN WTO MATTERS
WTO Director-General Mike Moore told the European Parliament today that he welcomed
closer involvement and scrutiny by Parliaments in the activities, discussions and other work of the
World Trade Organization.
Addressing the Committee on Development and Cooperation in Brussels, Mr. Moore said
closer involvement by Parliaments and Congresses was necessary not only because these legislatures
must ratify WTO agreements but also because they are the best representatives of civil society.
"Our agreements must be agreed by governments and ratified by Parliaments. We all need to
be more accountable. Parliaments and Congresses sustain governments.  Public opinion sustains
governments. Elected representatives are the main expression of civil society.  Their support is
measured, they are accountable, they need to be more involved.  This is a real way in which we cancounter some of the anxieties about globalization and public alienation.  Elected representatives have
a responsibility to become more involved, hold hearings, scrutinise where the taxpayer's money is
going and ensure that the great international institutions created to manage global affairs have the
moral authority that comes from the ownership and participation of Member governments," Mike
Moore said.  He addressed the Committee with EU  Commissioner Pascal Lamy and Peter Gakunu, of
the secretariat of the organization of the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.
At the Seattle Ministerial Conference in December, Mr. Moore welcomed the first informal
inter-Parliamentary session on WTO matters. Together with U.S. Senator William Roth, Mr. Moore
brought together Parliamentarians from around the world to discuss the problems associated with
globalization and to focus on what the WTO can do to alleviate these problems.
Mr. Moore told the Members of the committee that he wanted to build on this first initiative
and that he had already held consultations with officials from WTO Member Governments on this
matter.
"We need to involve Parliamentarians in a more focused, orderly and organized way.  In this
we need the help of Governments, so I will be pu tting to Governments some practical ways in which
this can be done, " Mr. Moore said.PRESS/169
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ENDHe said Parliamentarians have a special responsibility to inform their constituents of the
benefits a rules-based trading system can offer. The Director-General argued strongly in favor of more
open societies in which goods, services, information, ideas and capital can cross borders without
hindrance.
Through open economic policies, he said, the nations of East Asia and the Pacific have raised
living standards and reduced poverty on a level never before seen. He pointed out that 40 years ago,
40% of the population of the region was living on less than $1 a day. Today that figure has fallen to
10%.  In 1975, only one rural Thai in six had access to clean drinking water, he pointed out, while
today four out of five are drinking clean, safe water.
He attributed these gains to sound economic policies including liberal trading regimes.
While the WTO can do better to inform people of  the benefits of the multilateral trading
system, he said, the Parliaments and Congresses are more effective for such discussions because of
their close links to the public.
"How to ensure that people fe el ownership in a real sense is the challenge of those who
cherish the democratic principle and have a vision of a world managed by rules not force, agreements
not power.  How the representatives of the people face this challenge will be a key factor in providing
a more peaceful, stable world. To do this the international institutions must be more open and
accountable. This is my personal policy goal," Mr. Moore concluded.