Aims & history

The Parliamentary Conference on the World Trade Organisation (PCWTO) is a joint project of the European Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Its objective is to enhance the transparency of the WTO and to make the WTO, an inter-governmental organisation, accountable to elected representatives of the people. It provides parliamentarians who specialise in international trade issues with an opportunity to examine the main issues arising from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and to obtain first-hand information on relevant subjects from WTO leaders.

The Conference also offers opportunities to exchange views and experiences with colleagues in other parliaments, to interact with government representatives directly involved in the process of multilateral trade negotiations, and to discuss with representatives of leading international agencies carrying out programmes in the field of international trade.

When the WTO holds Ministerial Conferences - usually every two years - the PCWTO meetings are held in shortly before the Ministerial Conferences, in the same location.

The Conferences were initiated by parliamentarians participating in the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Doha in November 2001. There they adopted a declaration calling for strengthening the transparency of the WTO through the greater involvement of parliaments.

The Post-Doha Steering Committee was established at the same meeting in order to prepare a parliamentary conference on trade issues. During the first two sessions, held in Brussels and in Geneva during 2002, a number of practical decisions were taken on the Conference.

Since then, Parliamentary Conferences have been held regularly, coinciding with the Ministerial Conference once every two year. However, due to the pandemics, the last session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO was held in Geneva on 6 and 7 December 2018.