The European Union's Trade Commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, urged this Saturday to achieve a «very rigorous program starting Monday» on the reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
He made the call at a press conference during the 14th Ministerial Conference of the WTO, held in Yaoundé (Cameroon).
«We want to add a greater sense of urgency so that we can take advantage of the hours we have left today and tomorrow to meet an ambitious declaration,» the commissioner said.
«And what I would like to see is a very rigorous program starting Monday, with very clear work plans and a reform agenda… This way, we would not find ourselves in the situation of having to answer the same questions in two years,» he explained.
According to Sefcovic, most WTO member countries «understand» the need to reform the organization.
However, he acknowledged not perceiving «enough of a sense of urgency to start getting results».
The conference, which has been taking place since last Thursday and runs through this Sunday, brings together ministers and other delegates from the WTO's 166 member countries in the Cameroonian capital with the main task of deciding whether to endorse a reform project for the organization, founded in 1995.
One of the pending issues to restore confidence in the WTO is the deadlock in the functioning of the appellate body for resolving commercial disputes between countries.
To this end, the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) was established as a temporary response to the paralysis of the organization's negotiating mandate.
In a joint statement issued today, the EU and the 35 countries participating in this mechanism — to which Barbados, Liechtenstein, and Moldova have recently joined — call on other WTO countries to join.
They emphasize its importance «to provide security and predictability to the multilateral trading system in these difficult times».
«Pending the establishment of a fully operational and properly functioning WTO dispute settlement system, we encourage other WTO Members to join the MPIA, which provides rules-based stability, security, and predictability,» according to the statement.
Until a solution is reached, they add, the MPIA ensures «that WTO rules can be applied to ensure their compliance and that trade disputes between us can be resolved, without appeals falling into a void».
