WTO members discussed the way forward for advancing negotiations in the main areas

On January 21, 2022, the Swiss Government hosted an informal WTO Ministerial meeting, which was attended by First Deputy Chief of President's Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Timur Suleimenov in his capacity as Chairman of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MС12).

At the virtual meeting, Federal Councillor Guy Parmelan welcomed the meeting participants and stressed the importance of the multilateral trading system for the recovery and stability of the global economy. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala also noted the need to strengthen the role of the WTO in fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure the availability of medicines and vaccines. Considering that the WTO initiatives are aimed to meet the interests of the people, she urged the ministers to accelerate the current negotiation processes in the WTO.

In his statement, T.Suleimenov called on all WTO members to show flexibility in order to achieve results on relevant issues of the MC12 agenda. He highlighted that after the postponement of MC12 at the end of last year due to the spread of a new strain of coronavirus, WTO members expressed a strong commitment to maintaining the momentum of negotiations. The high-level representative of Kazakhstan encouraged the participants to continue active work on draft ministerial decisions on issues such as the WTO Response to the COVID-19 pandemic, agriculture, fisheries subsidies, and WTO reform, including measures to ensure the full functioning of the WTO dispute settlement system and further development of WTO rules.

At the end of the meeting, the ministers agreed to continue work in all areas of negotiations to achieve tangible outcomes at MC12 as soon as possible. They also noted the need to improve the supply of medical goods to the world's population through trade facilitation measures, closer cooperation between governments and the private sector, as well as to increase the role of intellectual property in the fight against the pandemic.

The meeting was attended by trade ministers from 28 countries representing a wide range of interests in the field of trade policy, including Brazil, the European Union, Indonesia, Canada, China, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United States, and Japan.