Okonjo-Iweala Tells WTO Members to ‘Walk the Talk,’ Engage in Genuine Negotiation

The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has urged members of the global trade body to adopt a spirit of compromise and engage in genuine negotiation in order to overcome differences and reach agreements on several key issues at a General Council meeting scheduled for July 22nd and 23rd.

According a statement, reporting in her capacity as Chair of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), Okonjo-Iweala, told members that while they were “a bit stuck” in many of the key issues, she was glad to hear an acknowledgment from a heads of delegation retreat held July 8, on the need to truly restart negotiating at the WTO.

“Now is the time to walk the talk and move from reflection and brainstorming to action,” she declared. “To not only take, but to be prepared to give. To compromise, be flexible and open-minded. To reach out to others, to understand their concerns and find mutually agreeable ways forward.

“There is engagement, but engagement is not necessarily negotiation,” she added.

“If we are to remain resilient at the WTO and responsive in a changing world, then we must remain faithful to the organisation’s negotiating DNA,” she said.

Prior to the Director-General’s report, members at the TNC meeting heard reports from the chairs of the negotiations on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (establishment of a multilateral register for geographical indications for wines and spirits), agriculture, development and fisheries.

The reports on the state of play in their negotiations were delivered by Ambassador Alfredo Suescum (Panama), Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy (Türkiye), Ambassador Kadra Hassan (Djibouti) and Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson (Iceland), respectively.

On agriculture, Acarsoy noted efforts under way to define a roadmap for the continuation of the agriculture negotiations, referring to a number of member-led efforts.

“These include the Brazil-led process initiated a few months ago seeking a decision at the 22-23 July General Council on how to move the agriculture negotiations forward, the recent submission by the African Group introduced at the last meeting of the negotiating group on agriculture, and technical work being undertaken by the African Group, the Cairns Group of agricultural exporting countries and several other members, with a view to developing draft modalities in the different pillars of the agriculture negotiations,” he added.

Acarsoy said he would wait for the outcome of the Brazil-led process, taking also into account the recent African Group communication, before resuming the negotiating process after the summer break.

On development, Hassan said she had been working with a facilitator, Mr. Jia Jie Loh of Singapore, on how best to take work forward on the basis of the Ministerial Declaration adopted at MC13 on implementation of special and differential treatment provisions in the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement. The facilitator held an informal open-ended discussion with members on 10 July based on his bilateral consultations, the chair noted.

Hassan also noted that the facilitators dealing with the issues relating to the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures and Article 66.2 of the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) relating to technology transfer have been reaching out to members on how to advance the work in their respective areas.