World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala expressed cautious optimism on Sunday. She expects the more than 100 trade ministers gathered in Geneva to reach one or two global agreements this week, but warned that the path will be bumpy and bumpy.
The director-general said that the world has changed since the last WTO ministerial conference, nearly five years ago.
“I wish I could say for the better. It certainly became more complicated,” she said at a press conference ahead of the June 12-15 meeting, listing the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the wider food crises. and energy as parts of a “polycrisis”.
In a speech to ministers at the opening of the conference, the WTO chief asked ministers to “show the world that the WTO can” assume its responsibilities and reach agreements on topics such as reducing fishing subsidies, expanding access to vaccines against Covid-19. , food security and setting a course for reform of the WTO itself.
“What remains to be decided requires political will — and I know you have — to get us to the finish line,” she said, warning that it will be a challenge.
Before the start of the ministerial conference on Sunday, she told a news conference that even reaching one or two agreements, “it will not be an easy road”.
“The road will be bumpy and full of rocks. There may be a land mine along the way,” he said.
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