GENEVA: The head of the World Trade Organisation has insisted that the WTO is still relevant as it prepares for its main gathering with few major deals on the table.

WTO members’ trade ministers have their biennial meeting in Abu Dhabi from Feb 26-29, at which they could put the final touches to a further fisheries deal.

But other potential agreements seem stuck in the weeds as anxiety swells over the impact of current geopolitical tensions. The global trade body’s chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala dismissed claims that the organisation was no longer relevant.

“I reject the use of the word irrelevant,” she told journalists at the WTO’s headquarters in Geneva.

“People don’t realise, they’ve taken for granted that 75 per cent of world trade is taking place on WTO terms: 75pc, in spite of all the FTAs (free trade agreements) and regional agreements.

“Can you imagine if those rules did not exist to govern world trade? What would it be? “Be careful what you say.” The Abu Dhabi talks will be the 13th ministerial meeting since the WTO’s creation in 1995.

The WTO is hoping for results, particularly on fishing, agriculture and electronic commerce, but disagreements remain between the organisation’s members.

Okonjo-Iweala said her team was working around the clock to draft agreements for the talks.

She said the mood among diplomats finessing the draft texts for the Abu Dhabi meeting was more positive and constructive than before the last ministerial meeting in 2022, held at the WTO’s Geneva headquarters.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2024