WTO chief 'cautiously optimistic' ahead of high-stakes meeting

GENEVA • The World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief has voiced cautious optimism as global trade ministers gather to tackle food security threatened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, overfishing and access to Covid-19 vaccines.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from Nigeria said the world had changed since the WTO's last ministerial conference nearly five years ago.

"It has certainly become more complicated," she told a news conference before the meeting that began yesterday and runs till Wednesday, listing the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine war, and major food and energy crises as pieces of a "polycrisis".

Speaking to ministers at the opening, the WTO chief urged them to "show the world that the WTO can step up to the plate" and achieve agreement on subjects such as reducing fishing subsidies, boosting access to Covid-19 vaccines, addressing food security and setting a course for reform of the WTO itself.

"What remains to be decided requires political will - and I know you have it - to get us over the finish line," she said.

However, she warned that it would be challenging. "The road will be bumpy and rocky. There may be a landmine along the way".

She said she was "cautiously optimistic" that the meeting would conclude with one or two deals.

The WTO's 164 members take decisions by consensus, meaning a single member can block progress, and negotiations often last years.

Top of the agenda of the meeting is the toll Russia's war in Ukraine is having on food security.

European Union trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said the bloc has been "working hard with all the members to prepare a multilateral food security package".

REUTERS