26 February - 2 March 2024, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) attended the 13th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (MC13), which took place in Abu Dhabi, UAE, from 26 February to 2 March 2024.
Trade Ministers and national governments’ representatives gather every two years for the WTO’s ministerial session, which addresses the most topical issues related to international trade at the highest level.
Hon. Maryam Majed Bin Theneya, Head of the UAE Delegation to PAM, and Hon. Gennaro Migliore (Italy), Director of the PAM CGS, represented the Assembly in Abu Dhabi.
While the Conference achieved some significant results, notably the accession of Comoros and Timor-Leste into the organization - bringing the total number of WTO Members to 166 – and a moratorium on e-commerce tariffs for two years, it fell short of an agreement on crucial issues that it was set to address, including fisheries, agriculture, and the Dispute Settlement Mechanism reform.
The Conference highlighted once again the need to continue working on common and viable solutions to reinforce the WTO’s role in the international trade system and to foster diplomatic solutions on crucial issues, including the need to boost climate actions through the WTO, as outlined by DG Ngozi-Iweala at the opening of the Conference.
PAM is fully committed to further fostering its long-lasting cooperation with the WTO towards substantive agreements on the most pressing issues affecting international trade, while working together towards the betterment of the multilateral trading system.//