WTO to take on new role within UN
The Economic and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC) has opened the way for WTO to become a specialized agency of the United Nations Organization.
ECOSOC adopted a resolution on 24th July 2002 that authorises the President to appoint members of the Council to a Committee to negotiate a relationship agreement between the UNO and WTO.
The Secretary-General of WTO, Mr Francesco Frangialli, said the WTO transformation into a specialized agency of the UN will “constitute a remarkable step forward, which can be characterized by three words: recognition, effectiveness, and impetus”.
He explained: “Recognition, because it acknowledges the fact that travel, leisure and tourism constitute a powerful part of modern society that cannot be ignored.
“Effectiveness, because, due to tourism’s multidisciplinary nature, many agencies and organs of the system are involved in its expansion in the performance of their own specific responsibilities. Transforming the WTO into a specialized agency would mean greater coherence by increasing the synergies among those different stakeholders and enhancing the coordination carried out by ECOSOC.
“And impetus – because we expect to achieve greater visibility that would prompt governments as well as multilateral institutions, especially the Bretton Woods institutions, to pay increased attention to an industry that brings development.”
The World Tourism Organization was established in 1975 as a result of the transformation of the International Union of Official Travel Organizations (IUOTO) into an intergovernmental institution. The WTO-UN relationship began with an agreement approved by the United Nations
General Assembly and the General Assembly of WTO in 1977. Since 1976, WTO has been an executing agency of the United Nations Development Programme and, in this capacity, it carries out a large majority of the tourism development projects it finances around the world. WTO also has an observer status in ECOSOC.
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