RESULTS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY MEETING
ON THE OCCASION OF UNCTAD X (Bangkok, 10 and 11 February 2000)

Resolution adopted without a vote by the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
at its 166th session (Amman, 6 May 2000)

The Inter-Parliamentary Council,

Welcoming the results of the Parliamentary Meeting on the occasion of the tenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD X) which was organised by IPU and the Thai National Assembly in cooperation with the UNCTAD Secretariat in Bangkok, Thailand, on 10 and 11 February 2000,

Noting with satisfaction the fact that the Parliamentary Meeting in Bangkok was an official parallel event of UNCTAD X and an integral part of its overall programme, and that the President of the IPU Council addressed the plenary session of UNCTAD X and presented the Final Declaration of the Parliamentary Meeting which subsequently became part of the official documentation of the UNCTAD session,

Satisfied that many national delegations to UNCTAD X included members of parliament whose active participation in the Parliamentary Meeting and in the intergovernmental conference underscored the mutual benefits of enhanced parliamentary involvement in UNCTAD sessions,

Convinced that IPU should energetically pursue efforts to provide a parliamentary dimension to international negotiations on trade and finance, thus advancing the process started through consultations during the Third WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle and continued at the Parliamentary Meeting in Bangkok,

1. Thanks the Thai National Assembly and the authorities of Thailand for their warm welcome to delegates and for the excellent working conditions for the Parliamentary Meeting;

2. Expresses gratitude to the UNCTAD Secretariat for its efforts to facilitate IPU participation in the work of UNCTAD X and for its assistance and substantial contribution, at all levels, to the preparation and holding of the Parliamentary Meeting;

3. Commends the outcome of the Parliamentary Meeting on the occasion of UNCTAD X and endorses the content of the Final Declaration which was unanimously adopted at its closing session;

4. Calls on all Parliaments to give due consideration to the Bangkok Declaration and the Plan of Action adopted by the UNCTAD X session, as well as to the Final Declaration of the Parliamentary Meeting in Bangkok, including through plenary debate in parliament wherever possible, and to make these documents available to parliamentary bodies dealing with issues of trade, finance and development;

5. Encourages parliaments to work actively for the implementation of UNCTAD X recommendations, in particular by utilising the parliamentary oversight function to ensure adequate governmental follow-up;

6. Entrusts the IPU Secretary General with implementing the recommendation to establish a world directory of parliamentary bodies dealing with the issues of trade, finance and development and to make this information available to parliaments and relevant multilateral institutions, preferably in on-line format;

7. Also entrusts the IPU Secretary General with finding, together with the UNCTAD Secretariat, ways of introducing targeted distribution of UNCTAD publications and materials, such as the "World Investment Report", to relevant parliamentary bodies;

8. Requests the IPU Committee for Sustainable Development to prepare proposals concerning the organisation by IPU and the UNCTAD Secretariat in the four years leading to UNCTAD XI of a series of parliamentary workshops aimed at assisting parliaments and their members with the implications for national legislation of specific trade and investment issues, and recommends that the first such workshop be organised already in the course of the year 2000 on the assumption that there would be no financial implications for IPU;

9. Strongly supports the proposal to organise a global inter-parliamentary conference on trade, finance and development issues in early 2001, and entrusts the IPU Secretary General with carrying out necessary consultations to that end, in particular with WTO and UNCTAD;

10. Endorses the idea of establishing within IPU an ad hoc body to look into issues relating to parliamentary follow-up to the Third WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle, and requests the IPU Secretary General to prepare practical proposals in this regard for approval by the IPU governing bodies at their session in Jakarta in October 2000.

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