WTO members agree on small economies’ integration into trading system

The members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have agreed on integration of small economies into the world trading system at the end of November.

The proposal was submitted to trade ministers for approval at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), the WTO said in a post on its official website.

Adopted at a meeting of the Committee on Trade and Development’s Dedicated Session on Small Economies, it is the first decision proposed for MC12 where consensus has been forged.

The proposed decision has called for WTO members to address the issue of integrating small economies into post Covid-19 economic recovery by looking at the impact of the pandemic and the underlying challenges and opportunities faced by small economies.

“This is a moment to celebrate because, for this Ministerial Conference, it is the first text to be consensually agreed by all members of the WTO,” said the chair, Ambassador Muhammad Mujtaba Piracha of Pakistan, while praising WTO members on the outcome of their discussions.

The 12th Ministerial Conference will take place in Geneva from 30 November to 3 December.

The proposed decision also calls on the dedicated session on small economies to continue monitoring the progress of the small economies' proposals in WTO bodies and negotiating groups.

A decision on small economies was adopted by trade ministers at the 11th Ministerial Conference held in Buenos Aires in 2017. The objective of the work programme on small economies is to frame responses to the trade-related issues regarding the integration of small, vulnerable economies into the multilateral trading system.