17 June 2022, Geneva – PAM was among the delegations invited to attend the 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which took place in Geneva from 12 to 17 June 2022.
More than 100 Trade Ministers, Heads of Delegations and Observers gathered in Geneva on Sunday for their first plenary meeting in five years. The Conference, originally due to take place in late 2021, was postponed due to COVID-19.
The 12th WTO Ministerial Conference was co-hosted by Kazakhstan and chaired by Mr Timur Suleimenov, Deputy Chief of Staff of Kazakhstan’s President. Mr Suleimenov opened the meeting on Sunday, followed by opening remarks from the WTO Director-General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
After a series of round-the-clock negotiations, which led the Chair and the WTO Director General to extend the Conference by two days to facilitate an outcome, Ministers finally agreed on Thursday on a number of key trade initiatives, which has been referred to as “The Geneva Package”.
Amb. Putman-Cramer, PAM Permanent Representative to the UN, represented the Assembly at the sessions that followed the last round of negotiations on the adoption of the package.
The package, composed of six agreements, includes breakthrough and long expected pledges on fisheries and a partial waiver of intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, as well as significant commitments on health and food security.
In particular, the agreement on fisheries subsides has been regarded by many as a potential game-changer in tackling the global over-fishing issue. Additionally, WTO Members also agreed to minimize trade distortion effects from emergency measures adopted to tackle food security and shortages.
At a time of great geopolitical uncertainty caused by the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the WTO has proved the importance of a well-functioning multilateral trading system. For this reason, Ministers also agreed, ahead of the next Ministerial Conference, on continuing working on an institutional reform of the WTO, which will further reinforce the organization’s ability to efficiently tackle major international trade issues.//