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The World Trade Organisation (WTO) came into force on 1 January 1995 and is based in Geneva. More than 150 nations are members. The WTOโs top decision making body is the Ministerial Conference, which is normally held every two years. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the worldโs trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.
At the request of Consumers International, the WTO facilitated a session with consumers groups to allow the participants to discuss consumers' priorities as they relate to global trade and hear an update about the work that is being done at the WTO. It will be the first session organized solely for consumer organizations under our 'Trade Dialogues' series.
๐๐ก๐ฉ๐ข๐๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ง ๐ข๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฅ ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ฃ ๐๐ก ๐ง๐๐ ๐ง๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ข๐๐จ๐
From Malaysia Consumer Group, represented by Ms Shabana Naseer
The meeting was held on 6-5-2019 at WTO office, Geneva, Switzerland. Upon arriving at the office, the delegates were required to register and collect their ID before they can enter the highly secured building. The delegates were ushered by WTO staff to the meeting room (Room B) for the morning session.
The meeting started with a brief introduction by the Director General of WTO, Mr Roberto Azevedo. In his speech he cited the importance of consumerโs voice to be heard especially in this critical moment where trade tensions are rising. A brief introduction and citing the importance of consumerโs concerns was later made by the Consumer International Director General, Ms Helena Leurent and Ms Sunanta Kangvalkulkij, the General Council Chair.
Sessions begun after the address note were made by the key persons and members were given the opportunity to voice their concerns and opinions directly to their trade negotiators during the Consumer Trade Dialogue `to ensure an international agreement on cross border e-commerce that protects consumers.
๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐ค ๐๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ ;
โข To provide better protection to the Malaysian consumers who buys products outside of Malaysia. ie : To have a representative in each countries to tackle issues experience with the respective country(ies)
โข Shared issues experienced by Malaysians such as the: Luxstyle case . number of cases NCCC have received and the challenges we faced solving the cases
โข The importance of inter government cooperation to handle dispute
โข A proper redress mechanism for consumers
โข Issue of product safety and Data Protection
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ / ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ :
โข Bureau Europรฉen des Unions de Consommateurs (BEUC) - Brussels
โข Consumer Awareness Organization - Nigeria
โข Consumers International - UK
โข Consumers Japan - Japan
โข Consumers New Zealand - New Zealand
โข CUTS International - Geneva office
โข eBay - USA
โข Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA) - Malaysia
โข Fundaciรณn Ambio - Costa Rica
โข International Chamber of Commerce, Geneva
โข Organizaciรณn de Consumidores y Usuarios de Chile (ODECU) - Chile
โข Proteste - Brazil
โข Which? - UK
Second session started after our lunch break and the comments made during the 1st session was discussed again and presented to the Director General of WTO, Mr Roberto Azevedo. Right after the session ended, WTO conducted a short interview of me, to get feedback and opinion on the importance of having this trade dialogue.
๐๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ;
https://twitter.com/wto/status/1128671598733557766
Visit our website: www.fomca.org.my for more info.
