Mensah-Williams at the WTO

The Chairperson of the National Council and Member of Parliament Margaret Mensah-Williams has been elected the new co-chair of the Parliamentary Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The WTO Parliamentary Conference to enhance parliamentarians’ understanding of the WTO and to allow them to oversee the WTO’s vital work in setting global trade rules and settling disputes. It is also designed to promote common parliamentary action on international trade, especially regarding the successful conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda and the implementation of the Bali and Nairobi Ministerial Decisions. The Doha trade talks were to lower trade barriers around the world and facilitate increased global trade. In Bali and in Nairobi packages of specific trade deals were agreed upon. This interaction helps the global trade regime to be more transparent and accountable.

The conference was co-founded in 2003 by the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, which serves as co-chair of the conference’s steering committee. The Committee comprises 22 national parliaments and other regional and international parliamentary assemblies and structures. These include the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and representatives of the WTO Secretariat. Each Member Parliament or organization has the right to choose its representative(s).

“Due to her great experience and knowledge on the work and functioning of the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU), as well as her great trajectory and leadership as Chairperson of the National Council of the Republic of Namibia, Hon. Margaret Mensah-Williams is a worthy representative of the IPU, as Co-Chair on the PCWTO,” said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, IPU President. – press release