By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The Director General of World Trade Organisation (WTO) Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Thursday called on nations to overhaul global trade rules, warning that the old world order is gone for good, following a year of turmoil over U.S tariffs and wider geopolitical tensions.
He highlighted as one of the problems facing the WTO, the paralysis of its dispute-settlement mechanism in her address at the opening of a four-day meeting of the body in Cameroon.
“The world order and multilateral system we used to know has irrevocably changed. We will not get it back … We must look to the future,” Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigeria’s Finance Minister said.
The gathering in Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital comes amid soaring concerns over the impact of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, and follows years of stalled multilateral trade deals.
Some diplomats and trade officials had ahead of the meeting warned that without an agreement on reforms, countries could start abandoning the ideal of a rules-based global trade system, and set their own regulations.
Okonjo-Iweala stressed that issues encountered by the body in decision-making must to be resolved. WTO’s current consensus-based model has been regularly stalled by objections from some countries. Some delegates are pushing for the organisation to let groups of members form agreements.
She also said there was a lack of transparency over which countries were using subsidies.
“Lack of transparency leads to lack of trust, and that breeds suspicions of unfairness and anti-competitive behaviours,” Okonjo-Iweala told delegates.
This contributed to a “vicious cycle” of mistrust which was holding back members from agreeing new rules and reforms, she added.
The U.S. supports reforms but is resisting a detailed work plan, while the EU, Britain, and China back one, internal reform documents seen by Reuters show.
“If we don’t achieve anything concrete, the WTO will lose its attractiveness and relevancy,” Swiss Ambassador Erwin Bollinger said before the session.
UK trade minister Chris Bryant warned of potential fragmentation if no deal is reached.
“My anxiety is if we ministers don’t get this week right, you might see a disorderly collapse of the WTO and some people writing a new rulebook,” Bryant said.
At the meeting, India is set to oppose U.S. efforts to extend a global ban on cross-border e-commerce duties, which New Delhi says developing nations should be able to impose.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, in a draft statement seen in advance is expected to tell members the U.S. is “not interested” in a temporary extension to the ban, only a permanent extension.
