THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENTARIANS IN BUILDING STRONGER TIES WITHIN THE COMMONWEALTH: TRADE AND VISA ISSUES: WORKSHOP B 63rd COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE Dhaka, Bangladesh 1 to 8 November 2017 Conference Workshop B - 6 November 2017
THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENTARIANS IN BUILDING STRONGER TIES WITHIN THE COMMONWEALTH: INCLUDING NEW TRADE ISSUES, VISA ISSUES, TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS AND NON-TARIFF RESTRICTIONS Moderator: Hon. Alexandra Mendes, MP (Canada) Discussion Leaders: • Senator Eke Ekweremadu, MP (Nigeria) • Lord Davies of Stamford (United Kingdom) • Hon. Winston Gordon Felix, MP (Guyana) Rapporteur: Mr Neil Iddawala (Sri Lanka)
The conference delegates in this workshop discussed the role of Parliamentarians in building stronger ties within the Commonwealth including new trade issues, visa issues, travel restrictions, non-tariff restrictions. All Members acknowledged that the time is ripe to speak about this topic since it is necessary to identify a common mandate among the Commonwealth on trade and travel issues, especially as the 2013 Commonwealth Charter emphasizes that building stronger ties among members is very important. The Charter declares that “the special strength of the Commonwealth lies in the combination of our diversity and our shared inheritance.” Therefore, Commonwealth members fully recognize the value of international trade as a powerful means of achieving economic and social progress. With its diverse membership, the Commonwealth has consistently advocated for a global trading system that ensures effective participation of all countries, especially the least-developed countries (LDCs), small states and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
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Role of the Commonwealth In this context, Commonwealth members have to balance the potentially competing claims of national self-interest, their domestic constituencies and the concerns of civil society, while seeking to maximize the benefits of a more liberal world trading system. In this regard, the conference delegates at this workshop urged the Commonwealth to play a major role in the efforts to strengthen relations among the members by affirming the core values and principles of the Commonwealth Charter. For instance, it encompasses vibrant regional networks such as the African Union (AU); the Caribbean Community (CARICOM); the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF); the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC); South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the European Union (EU). These networks provide collective regional efforts to accelerate economic and trade growth, social progress, cultural development and tourism. Moreover, it is possible to negotiate the trade and other
social economic disputes among the members by ratifying trade agreements and implementing their provisions through domestic legislation and appropriate budgetary allocations. By emphasizing the Commonwealth’s contribution to trade expansion, the first discussion leader, Senator Eke Ekweremadu, MP (Nigeria) stated that the use of a common language amongst Commonwealth nations has been identified as a major source of trade expansion and it also led to a reduction in overheads of up to 15% for intra-Commonwealth trade as opposed to trade with equivalent non-Commonwealth nations. He further stated that, the former Commonwealth Secretary-General Mr Kamalesh Sharma had pointed out in 2004, that the Trade Facilitation Agreement of the Commonwealth promised a boost to global trade of between US$ 400 billion and US$ 1 trillion, by cutting red tape, and streamlining and simplifying procedures through measures such as new standards for customs’ checks and border procedures. Senator Ekweremadu