Global trade in ‘critical phase’: WTO braces for modest results

WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and delegates sought to curb expectations

Trade ministers from around the world gathered in Abu Dhabi on Monday for a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting that aims to set new global commerce rules, but its chief Ngozi OkonjoIweala and delegates sought to curb expectations. The almost 30-year-old global watchdog, whose rules underpin 75% of global commerce, tries to strike deals by consensus, but such efforts are becoming more difficult amid signs that the global economy is fragmenting into separate blocs.

“Let’s not pretend that any of this will be easy,” Okonjo-Iweala said in her opening speech, describing the atmosphere as “tougher” than the WTO’s last 2022 meeting, citing wars, tensions and elections and signs that trade growth will undershoot the organization’s own estimate.

She called on ministers to “roll up their sleeves” and complete negotiations, but seemed to rule out any deal in Abu Dhabi on reforming the body’s mothballed appeals court.

“We are not there yet,” she said.

Thani Al Zeyoudi, conference chair and UAE’s foreign trade minister said in an opening address: “The multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core is at a critical juncture; it is confronting many challenges.

“I now ask all of you to show the world that the WTO is alive and well and fully capable to deliver results that matter to people everywhere,” he said.

Some delegates privately voiced concerns that India’s trade minister, seen as the main holdout on some key issues including agriculture, was absent on Monday although New Delhi said he would be in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Negotiators say they remain hopeful for an agreement that could buoy global fish stocks and protect fishermen by banning government subsidies. Other outcomes from the four-day meeting that are either definite or achievable are the accession of two new members— Comoros and East Timor—and a deal among around 120 countries to remove development-hampering investment barriers.

Commerce minister Piyush Goyal repeated on Monday New Delhi’s drive for a controversial stand-alone permanent waiver to WTO rules that currently restrict domestic agriculture subsidies on food items like rice.

WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala seemed to rule out any deal in Abu Dhabi on reforming the body’s mothballed appeals court