WTO's General Council Chair Lays Out 'Road Map' for Reform Talks Ahead of MC13
World Trade Organization members during a July 24-25 meeting of the General Council looked at a "road map" for carrying out reform discussions related to the body's deliberative function, the WTO said. The General Council chair, Botswana's Athaliah Lesiba Molokomme, pointed to various "stations" where members will need to set up the topics to address to make sure WTO reform is addressed at the 13th Ministerial Conference in February 2024.
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One such "station" was the Trade Negotiations Committee meeting on July 20 that laid out the work to be done for the General Council and senior officials meetings that will be held ahead of MC13. The second "station" is an "informal meeting on WTO reform" set for Sept. 25-26 where the focus will be "trade and industrial policy," at the behest of the EU and the African Group. The third station will be a joint informal heads of delegation meeting on Oct. 10 to prep senior officials for the conference.
The fourth station is the senior officials meeting, where members will need to make decisions on issues "which may be ripe for harvest," note progress on reform, endorse "pathway targets and their scope," set a structure for decisions at MC13, deliberate on global issues and "provide political guidance on the way forward." The fifth station is the meetings of the Trade Negotiations Commitee and General Council in November. The sixth is a mid-December General Council meeting.
The last station is MC13, though Molokomme said the road map "is not set in stone" since other pit stops may be necessary.
Also at the General Council meeting, eight reform proposals were presented.