Parliamentarians and business step up calls for World Trade Organization (WTO) reform

The Parliamentary Outcome document, adopted on 25 March at the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO, was presented by Martin Chungong, Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, together with Jörgen Warborn, Member of the European Parliament. 

The document calls for comprehensive reform across all core functions of the Organization, including restoring a fully functioning dispute settlement system, strengthening the development dimension and advancing work on digital trade. It also calls on ministers to provide clear political direction and to agree on a credible roadmap for reform beyond MC14.

The Parliamentary Conference brought together parliamentarians from across the globe, who underscored the need to restore the WTO’s relevance, credibility and effectiveness in a rapidly changing global economic environment.

The Global Business Statement for MC14 was presented by John W.H. Denton AO on behalf of more than 200 business organizations worldwide. It calls on ministers to use MC14 as a catalyst for reform and to agree on a structured and time-bound plan to modernize the WTO, underlining that a functioning multilateral trading system is essential for economic stability, investment confidence and sustainable growth.

The statement also stressed the importance of restoring the WTO’s negotiating, deliberative and dispute settlement functions to ensure the institution remains fit for purpose. A key priority it highlights is the renewal of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, with businesses warning that its lapse would introduce new uncertainty into global trade and risk undermining cross-border e-commerce, particularly for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Parliamentary Conference outcome document is available here  and the ICC Global Business Statement for MC14 is available here.