Director General Okonjo-Iweala delivered the remarks words of opening at the 13th Conference Ministerial meeting on Monday (26.02.2024), in which he addressed the context as well as the challenges facing the World Trade Organization. He said that "in light of these realities, we need the WTO to stand firm" and called for "continuing to reform and revitalize the organization."
He also urged to show the world that "the WTO not only supports more than three-quarters of global trade in goods, but is also a forum where members offer new benefits to people through trade."
He said in his speech at the conference that "without cooperation on trade, we would move towards an increasingly fragmented world economy, and all of these priorities would be more difficult, more costly and, in some cases, impossible to achieve."
Okonjo-Iweala also noted that important steps had been taken at CM12. “We have continued this work in Geneva under the auspices of the General Council,” she said, urging “that we build on these successes in Abu Dhabi this week.”
Thus, WTO Members will seek to secure “results” during their four-day meeting (February 26-29) in areas of the calendar such as: fisheries subsidies, agriculture, WTO reform, development, e-commerce, services and investment facilitation. They will also discuss gender and the environment.
In addition to the above, CM13 will discuss the measures to be carried out WTO reforms to the dispute resolution system, as the ministers had ordered in CM12 to be reformed in 2024. In this regard, the DG explained in an interview with the agency Emirates news agency that the dispute settlement system consists of two levels. At the first level, a panel judges cases brought by members, which is currently functioning and dealing with a number of cases. The second is the appellate body where they can appeal, if they are not satisfied with decisions taken at the first level. That appellate body is not functioning at the moment. “So we decided to look at the whole system, both at the panel and appellate body level, to see what needs to be reformed.”
At the WTO's top decision-making body, trade ministers unanimously welcomed the terms of accession of New Members The two least developed countries were hailed by their respective governments as a historic event for the two least developed countries and said it was a significant step towards accelerating political and economic reforms.
Comoros and Timor-Leste will raise the total number of WTO members to 166. “We hope to increase that number in the coming years,” said Director-General Okonjo-Iweala.
Both governments will now submit their Protocols for ratification by their legislative assemblies. In accordance with WTO rules, Comoros and Timor-Leste will become members of the WTO 30 days after the deposit of their respective instruments of acceptance of the Protocol.Opening words) (Comoros and Timor-Leste's membership in the WTO) (Interview with WAM)
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