ENDPRESS RELEASE
PRESS/223
8 June 2001
(01-2847)
MOORE CALLS FOR GREATER PARLIAMENTARY SCRUTINY OF WTO
GENEVA – WTO Director-General Mike Moore t oday called on Parliaments around the world to
give greater scrutiny to the organization and to educate themselves more fully on its activities.
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. Weneed 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.
Mr. Moore's speech is available on the WTO Website: http://www.wto.org