WTO DG Ngozi Calls for Parallel
Progress on WTO Reform and Trade Negotiations
Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called on WTO members to make simultaneous
progress on reforming the organization as well as on outstanding negotiating topics,
urging delegations to "collectively advance the two sides of the same coin".
She made her remarks at a 14-15 July General Council meeting where she reviewed
work undertaken since the WTO's 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) in late March
and where members adopted several decisions in favour of developing and least-developed
country members.
·
Key
Message:
WTO Director-General Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala
urged members to advance WTO
reforms and trade negotiations simultaneously, calling them “two sides of the
same coin.”
·
Purpose
of Reform:
She stressed that WTO reform should strengthen the institution's ability to deliver
meaningful
and durable trade outcomes.
·
Fisheries
Subsidies:
Members made positive progress in post-MC14 negotiations on fisheries subsidies, with 122 WTO members having accepted the Agreement
on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS).
·
Agriculture
Talks:
WTO members reaffirmed that agriculture remains central to WTO negotiations, though differences
remain on how to move talks forward.
·
Special
& Differential Treatment: The G-90
group
will continue discussions on outstanding proposals benefiting developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) after the WTO summer break.
·
Services
Negotiations:
Members expressed interest in assessing trade in services, but further discussions are needed to finalize the assessment
agenda.
·
General
Council Decisions:
o
Continued
discussions on TRIPS
implementation
and special treatment for LDCs.
o
Welcomed
the third
phase of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) without additional cost to the
WTO budget.
o
Approved
U.S.
waivers
allowing duty-free treatment under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) until 31 December 2026.
·
Follow-up
to MC14:
Members continued consultations on unresolved issues, including:
o
E-commerce
moratorium,
o
TRIPS
non-violation complaints,
o
LDC
proposals,
o
Venue
for the 15th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC15),
o
Investment
Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA).
·
WTO
Reform Process:
Five facilitators have been appointed to advance reform discussions, including dispute settlement reform.
·
Electronic
Commerce Agreement (ECA): India
and Pakistan
raised concerns about interim arrangements for the ECA, while the WTO Secretariat
clarified that its role is consistent with WTO practice and international law.
·
Next
Meeting:
The next regular WTO
General Council
meeting is tentatively scheduled for 5–6 October 2026.
[ABS News Service/16.07.2026]
Reporting in her capacity as
Chair of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), DG Okonjo-Iweala
said advancing negotiations and advancing WTO reform "are not competing priorities."
"Reform is not an end in
itself," she said. "It is the means
by which this organization can better respond to today's challenges and deliver
meaningful outcomes for members and for the people and businesses who depend on
the multilateral trading system. A reformed WTO that doesn't deliver substantive
outcomes would fall short of expectations."
"Equally, negotiating outcomes
without the institutional foundations that reform seeks to strengthen would not
prove durable," she added. "We
therefore need to pursue both tracks together."
Reporting on the state of play
in negotiations under the TNC's oversight, the Director-General said she was encouraged
with the positive feedback regarding the first phase of post-MC14 negotiations on
fisheries subsidies chaired by Ambassador Leslie Ramsammy of Guyana, who circulated
a recent report to members on his efforts to date as well
as a work plan for the remainder of the year.
She urged members to use the
next few months to share their views on the progress made since MC12, when the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS) was adopted, and on how
that progress can serve as a basis for the next phase of negotiations. She also
welcomed the recent acceptances by the Kyrgyz Republic, Niger and Thailand of the
AFS, raising the total number of acceptances to 122 members. In addition, she drew
attention to the 34 new subsidy notifications submitted by members as part of their
obligations under the Agreement.
On agriculture, DG Okonjo-Iweala noted the meeting of farm negotiators on 9 July, the first since MC14, where members
reaffirmed that agriculture remains central to the WTO while regretting the lack
of progress in negotiations over recent years, including at MC14. While there was broad agreement that renewed political
will and trust will be essential to advancing the negotiations, views differed on
how best to achieve this, the Director-General said, with several developing economy
members underscoring the continued relevance of existing mandates while others emphasized
the need to address all negotiating issues in a comprehensive and balanced manner.
On negotiations related to special and differential treatment provisions, DG Okonjo-Iweala said the G-90 group of developing and least developed
country (LDC) members will be updating work on outstanding Agreement-specific proposals
and that discussions on these proposals would take place after the WTO's summer
break.
On services, the Director-General said there was a good level of interest in undertaking
an assessment of trade in services in different sectors and modes of supply as mandated
in Article XIX of the General Agreement on Trade in Services, but that further discussions
will be needed to converge on an assessment agenda. She also expressed hope that
members could find a way to discuss market access matters in the context of the
built-in mandate.
"I encourage all members
to continue engaging with (the negotiations chairs) and to support their efforts
in good faith, so that each negotiating track can really pick up when we come back
from the summer break and deliver results," DG Okonjo-Iweala
said.
The General Council adopted a
number of decisions at the 14-15 July meeting.
Regarding proposals from the WTO's group of least developed countries (LDC
Group), the General Council:
·
agreed that any further discussions on improving implementation of
the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS),
including those related to special and differential treatment, will take place in
the TRIPS Council based on proposals from members;
·
welcomed the launch of the third phase of the Enhanced Integrated Framework while confirming that this will
not involve any cost to the regular WTO budget.
The General Council also agreed
to proposals from the United States for waivers from WTO obligations to permit the
United States to provide duty-free treatment to eligible products originating in
beneficiary countries under the amended African Growth and Opportunity Act and the
amended Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act. The waivers run up to 31 December
2026.
Under an agenda item on follow-up
to outcomes from ministerial conferences, the Chair of the General Council, Ambassador
Clare Kelly of New Zealand, focused her intervention on issues where members could
not reach agreement at MC14 in Yaoundé.
On the WTO's electronic commerce work programme and moratorium, the Chair said she has not detected
any movement on the issue in her consultations with members since the last General
Council meeting in early May. At the same
time, she said, several members indicated that digital trade is an issue that the
WTO should continue to engage with in a structured, co-ordinated and holistic manner
multilaterally. The Chair said she would
hold further consultations with relevant members after the WTO's summer break.
On the moratorium on non-violation and situational complaints under the TRIPS Agreement, the
Chair said her consultations with delegations did not reveal any progress, with
the issue continuing to be linked by several delegations to the electronic commerce
work programme and moratorium. The Chair said she would continue to monitor the
situation and report back.
Regarding the LDC-specific proposals,
the Chair welcomed the flexibility shown by members allowing some of the proposals
to be approved earlier in the meeting. As for the remaining proposals, the Chair
reiterated her call to co-sponsors and those with concerns to intensify their efforts
with a view to finding a solution.
The Chair also said she has consulted
with members on the venue for the 15th Ministerial Conference (MC15). Noting the offer from Saudi Arabia to host MC15,
she noted that several delegations have reiterated their support for this offer
while others indicated they are not yet able to join consensus. She also noted some members said they were reflecting
on the frequency and venue of future ministerial conferences and how decisions on
hosting these meetings should be prepared and approved by the membership. The Chair said she would continue engaging with
members on the issue with the hope that a decision could be made at the next General
Council meeting.
The Chair also noted that the
issue of investment facilitation also came up in her consultations with members
and that several participants in the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement continue to work for its incorporation
into the WTO legal framework. She encouraged
delegations to continue engaging on the matter.
Ambassador Kelly noted that WTO reform was a focus of discussion for ministers at MC14 and continues to be
her focus since then. She noted that she
has been holding consultations with members since the last General Council meeting
in May. Based on members' inputs, the Chair
noted that she has appointed five facilitators to assist her on reform work. This
new phase of the work kicked off two weeks ago on all four areas where ministers
focused their conversations at MC14, she said.
Her statements and those of the facilitators on the four kick-off sessions
are available here and here.
"With this, our WTO reform
is moving on to a steady track," Ambassador Kelly declared. The Chair said the work will now advance according
to a revised calendar which she hoped would ensure
all members can participate in the reform work in an inclusive manner and allow
progress towards tangible outcomes.
With regards to dispute settlement
reform, the Chair noted that the Chair of the Dispute Settlement Body, (DSB), Ambassador
Guiherme de Aguiar Patriota of Brazil, has been holding
consultations with members on the matter and would update members on the discussions
at the next DSB meeting on 24 July.
India and Pakistan raised questions
regarding interim arrangements for the entry into force of the Agreement on Electronic Commerce (ECA), which is supported by
67 members. These participating members are also continuing to seek the ECA's incorporation
into the WTO rulebook. The concerns centre
on arrangements that rely on the office of the WTO Director-General to serve as
the depositary of the ECA's instruments of acceptance, on the WTO Secretariat to
service the Agreement, and on the establishment of a Committee on Trade-Related
Aspects of Electronic Commerce which will report annually to the General Council.
The Director-General replied
that Secretariat resources devoted to the ECA are limited and transparently reported,
and that if any additional support were required, participants would need to consider
how to manage that. She said the decision
to act as depositary of the ECA, at the request of participants, is consistent with
international law, WTO practice and precedent. She said written replies to questions
would be provided and stressed that broader institutional, legal and governance
questions relating to the ECA are for WTO members to resolve.
The next regular meeting of the
General Council is tentatively scheduled for 5-6 October.