MC13: Okonjo-Iweala Charge WTO to Be a Institution People Can Trust At Difficult Time

Adeola Taiwo

In order to make the World Trade Organisation (WTO) a better place for trading and avenue to render assistance to the world. The Director General of the global trade body, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala yesterday at the general council meeting, she said,

“The goal of ensuring that trade contributes as much as possible to improving people’s lives and livelihoods is what lies behind my constant call for the WTO to deliver results,”

“As we begin to lay the foundations for a more responsive WTO and successful 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13), we should remember that we do not need to wait for a Ministerial Conference to deliver results.”

Cameroon and the United Arab Emirates presented their bids to host the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference at the meeting.

However, The Director-General said until MC13 takes place a great deal of work needed to be done to enhance better trading.

“This means facilitating negotiations and helping you build convergence on a focused, solutions-oriented agenda” that makes the WTO “an institution that people can rely on to deliver during difficult times such as these,” she said.

She stressed further that the success of last week’s Public Forum was proof of how dynamic exchanges and new ideas can help inform and stimulate WTO members’ work in Geneva. Over 1,500 people from across the world attended in person the Public Forum to discuss how trade and the WTO can support inclusive recovery after the series of crises over the past two and a half years.

Over 140 sessions brought together some 600 speakers from diverse fields to facilitate the discussions.

“Making the WTO more responsive to the needs of people starts from all of us listening to their views and concerns. That is why engaging the public in our work is so important,” the DG said.

Speaking about the many areas of substantive work ahead of MC13, the Director-General urged members to seriously engage on reforming agriculture trade, a sentiment shared by numerous civil society groups.

She recognised the efforts made over the past 22 years since the reform mandate took effect, including good ideas and some valuable steps such as the Nairobi decision on export competition, but noted that if serious progress is to be made, members need “a fresh approach”.

“This work could not be more urgent as people struggle with high food prices, and global agricultural production is confronted with climate risks, water scarcity and supply chain issues for fertilizer, seeds and other key inputs,” she said.

A members’ retreat to address the agriculture agenda would take place on October 24, with a view to finding out what is really happening on the ground and factoring these developments into the way members approach agriculture negotiations in the future.