“The rules-based trading system offers businesses everywhere the openness, transparency and predictability they need to navigate an increasingly complex and challenging trade policy landscape,” WTO Deputy Director-General Anabel González said on 25 April.
He was addressing the 2023 DHL Forum, an event bringing together leaders from the public and private sectors to discuss how to achieve a resilient future.
“I encourage you to invest in strengthening the WTO and work closely with all other stakeholders to build the WTO that people want and need for the 21st century,” she said.
Noting that international trade has been remarkably robust despite continuous shocks, not least the war in Ukraine, stubborn inflation and supply chain disruptions, DDG González said that “trade has played a key role in supporting economic recovery and averting shortages by bringing food and other critical supplies to where they are needed.”
“Globalization is not going away, but it is changing,” she said, adding that “businesses will need to adapt to a world of geopolitical tensions, heightened trade policy uncertainty and possibly an increasingly fragmented global economy.”
Noting the importance of reforming the WTO to safeguard rules-based trade and promote deeper trade cooperation, DDG González highlighted efforts to restore the WTO dispute settlement system.
“Delivering a well-functioning dispute settlement system is an absolute priority because in a system where rules cannot be enforced, predictability suffers and it becomes harder to negotiate new rules,” she said.
DDG González called on the business community to step up its support for trade facilitation initiatives around the world.
“By working together on making trade easier, faster and less costly, we can bring trade opportunities to more communities and more small- and women-owned businesses,” she added.
