Kalu Urges WTO To Resolve Food Security, Investment Facilitation Issues

Deputy Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has urged the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to deliver concrete outcomes on public stockholding for food security and investment facilitation.

At the 57th Session of the Steering Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on the World Trade Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland, Mr Kalu warned that prolonged delays are eroding confidence in the multilateral trading system.

Co-chaired by Hon. Bernd Lange of the European Parliament and Ms. Anda Filip, Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, the session jointly organided by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the European Parliament had in attendance, the WTO Director-General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as a special guest, parliamentarians from national and regional legislatures, European Parliament, IPU and trade policy experts.

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The Committee reviewed developments in multilateral trade negotiations, follow-up actions from the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference, and the outcomes of the session held in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

In his contributions during the session, the Deputy Speaker, who acknowledged progress on fisheries subsidies and development issues however said the WTO’s credibility would be judged by its ability to deliver for developing countries.

He expressed concern over the failure to reach a permanent solution on stockholding for food security, 13 years after the commitment at the 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference, noting that Nigeria has co-sponsored the demand by the African Group, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group and the G33 for a permanent solution.