WTO | 2026 News items

Reporting in her capacity as Chair of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), DG Okonjo-Iweala said advancing negotiations and advancing WTO reform “are not competing priorities.”

“Reform is not an end in itself,” she said.  “It is the means by which this organization can better respond to today’s challenges and deliver meaningful outcomes for members and for the people and businesses who depend on the multilateral trading system. A reformed WTO that doesn’t deliver substantive outcomes would fall short of expectations.”

“Equally, negotiating outcomes without the institutional foundations that reform seeks to strengthen would not prove durable,” she added.  “We therefore need to pursue both tracks together.”

Reporting on the state of play in negotiations under the TNC’s oversight, the Director-General said she was encouraged with the positive feedback regarding the first phase of post-MC14 negotiations on fisheries subsidies chaired by Ambassador Leslie Ramsammy of Guyana, who circulated a recent report to members on his efforts to date as well as a work plan for the remainder of the year. 

She urged members to use the next few months to share their views on the progress made since MC12, when the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS) was adopted, and on how that progress can serve as a basis for the next phase of negotiations. She also welcomed the recent acceptances by the Kyrgyz Republic, Niger and Thailand of the AFS, raising the total number of acceptances to 122 members. In addition, she drew attention to the 34 new subsidy notifications submitted by members as part of their obligations under the Agreement.

On agriculture, DG Okonjo-Iweala noted the meeting of farm negotiators on 9 July, the first since MC14, where members reaffirmed that agriculture remains central to the WTO while regretting the lack of progress in negotiations over recent years, including at MC14.  While there was broad agreement that renewed political will and trust will be essential to advancing the negotiations, views differed on how best to achieve this, the Director-General said, with several developing economy members underscoring the continued relevance of existing mandates while others emphasized the need to address all negotiating issues in a comprehensive and balanced manner.

On negotiations related to special and differential treatment provisions, DG Okonjo-Iweala said the G-90 group of developing and least developed country (LDC) members will be updating work on outstanding Agreement-specific proposals and that discussions on these proposals would take place after the WTO’s summer break.

On services, the Director-General said there was a good level of interest in undertaking an assessment of trade in services in different sectors and modes of supply as mandated in Article XIX of the General Agreement on Trade in Services, but that further discussions will be needed to converge on an assessment agenda. She also expressed hope that members could find a way to discuss market access matters in the context of the built-in mandate.

“I encourage all members to continue engaging with (the negotiations chairs) and to support their efforts in good faith, so that each negotiating track can really pick up when we come back from the summer break and deliver results,” DG Okonjo-Iweala said.

General Council decisions

The General Council adopted a number of decisions at the 14-15 July meeting.  Regarding proposals from the WTO’s group of least developed countries (LDC Group), the General Council:

• agreed that any further discussions on improving implementation of the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), including those related to special and differential treatment, will take place in the TRIPS Council based on proposals from members;
• welcomed the launch of the third phase of the Enhanced Integrated Framework while confirming that this will not involve any cost to the regular WTO budget.

The General Council also agreed to proposals from the United States for waivers from WTO obligations to permit the United States to provide duty-free treatment to eligible products originating in beneficiary countries under the amended African Growth and Opportunity Act and the amended Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act. The waivers run up to 31 December 2026.

Follow-up to MC14

Under an agenda item on follow-up to outcomes from ministerial conferences, the Chair of the General Council, Ambassador Clare Kelly of New Zealand, focused her intervention on issues where members could not reach agreement at MC14 in Yaoundé. 

On the WTO’s electronic commerce work programme and moratorium, the Chair said she has not detected any movement on the issue in her consultations with members since the last General Council meeting in early May.  At the same time, she said, several members indicated that digital trade is an issue that the WTO should continue to engage with in a structured, co-ordinated and holistic manner multilaterally.  The Chair said she would hold further consultations with relevant members after the WTO’s summer break.

On the moratorium on non-violation and situational complaints under the TRIPS Agreement, the Chair said her consultations with delegations did not reveal any progress, with the issue continuing to be linked by several delegations to the electronic commerce work programme and moratorium. The Chair said she would continue to monitor the situation and report back.

Regarding the LDC-specific proposals, the Chair welcomed the flexibility shown by members allowing some of the proposals to be approved earlier in the meeting. As for the remaining proposals, the Chair reiterated her call to co-sponsors and those with concerns to intensify their efforts with a view to finding a solution.

The Chair also said she has consulted with members on the venue for the 15th Ministerial Conference (MC15).  Noting the offer from Saudi Arabia to host MC15, she noted that several delegations have reiterated their support for this offer while others indicated they are not yet able to join consensus.  She also noted some members said they were reflecting on the frequency and venue of future ministerial conferences and how decisions on hosting these meetings should be prepared and approved by the membership.  The Chair said she would continue engaging with members on the issue with the hope that a decision could be made at the next General Council meeting.

The Chair also noted that the issue of investment facilitation also came up in her consultations with members and that several participants in the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement continue to work for its incorporation into the WTO legal framework.  She encouraged delegations to continue engaging on the matter.

WTO reform

Ambassador Kelly noted that WTO reform was a focus of discussion for ministers at MC14 and continues to be her focus since then.  She noted that she has been holding consultations with members since the last General Council meeting in May.  Based on members’ inputs, the Chair noted that she has appointed five facilitators to assist her on reform work. This new phase of the work kicked off two weeks ago on all four areas where ministers focused their conversations at MC14, she said.  Her statements and those of the facilitators on the four kick-off sessions are available here and here.

“With this, our WTO reform is moving on to a steady track,” Ambassador Kelly declared.  The Chair said the work will now advance according to a revised calendar which she hoped would ensure all members can participate in the reform work in an inclusive manner and allow progress towards tangible outcomes.

With regards to dispute settlement reform, the Chair noted that the Chair of the Dispute Settlement Body, (DSB), Ambassador Guiherme de Aguiar Patriota of Brazil, has been holding consultations with members on the matter and would update members on the discussions at the next DSB meeting on 24 July.

Interim arrangements for the Agreement on Electronic Commerce

India and Pakistan raised questions regarding interim arrangements for the entry into force of the Agreement on Electronic Commerce (ECA), which is supported by 67 members. These participating members are also continuing to seek the ECA’s incorporation into the WTO rulebook.  The concerns centre on arrangements that rely on the office of the WTO Director-General to serve as the depositary of the ECA’s instruments of acceptance, on the WTO Secretariat to service the Agreement, and on the establishment of a Committee on Trade-Related Aspects of Electronic Commerce which will report annually to the General Council.

The Director-General replied that Secretariat resources devoted to the ECA are limited and transparently reported, and that if any additional support were required, participants would need to consider how to manage that.  She said the decision to act as depositary of the ECA, at the request of participants, is consistent with international law, WTO practice and precedent. She said written replies to questions would be provided and stressed that broader institutional, legal and governance questions relating to the ECA are for WTO members to resolve. 

Next meeting

The next regular meeting of the General Council is tentatively scheduled for 5-6 October.