Speaking at a formal meeting of the WTO’s General Council on 1 November, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said WTO members need to step up efforts to find common ground in order to achieve concrete outcomes at the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi next February.
In her capacity as Chair of the Trade Negotiations Committee, the Director-General welcomed the results from the Group of 7 trade ministers meeting in Osaka, Japan, on 29 October, which also included the participation of a number of developing country trade ministers.
The Osaka meeting followed a Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) at WTO headquarters on 23-24 October that focused on preparations for MC13.
The G7 trade ministers "were pleased about the results and it was heartening to hear ministers strongly reiterate the calls we had just heard at the SOM for us to work for concrete outcomes and a successful MC13," she said.
"All of them were desirous to have a successful MC13 but they acknowledged that, on some of the dossiers we have in front of us, differences still remain and have to be resolved."
"So, we have our work cut out for us. With about four months to MC13, every day must count to effectively utilize the political guidance and support we sought and got from senior officials and ministers to substantially advance our work towards concrete results at MC13."
The current global outlook is "dire at the moment," the Director-General said. "People are looking to multilateral organizations to act differently, to deliver differently, to show the world that they're still bastions where multilateral cooperation can deliver for people."
Reporting on the ongoing discussions among members related to WTO reform, Ambassador Athaliah Lesiba Molokomme of Botswana, the General Council Chair, noted that work on the issue continues, with "reform-by-doing" work advancing in the various WTO bodies.
