Geneva, 9 May 2023 (TDI): The WTO General Council met in Geneva. The General Council reviewed work on the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) held on June 2022.
The Botswana Ambassador, Athaliah Molokomme, chaired the current event. A plenary meeting followed by two days of consultations was part of the event.
DG WTO, Okonjo-Iweala, said that delivering meaningful developments is the key to successful outcomes. She called on members to renew momentum in the discussions on development issues.
WTO members participating in the negotiations on investment facilitation for development (IFD) commended the substantive progress made in the Draft Agreement since the start of this year.
Developing a more strategic framework for future collaboration was also discussed with Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) leadership and its technical team.
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WTO members agreed at MC12 to work towards necessary reform of the WTO and improve all its functions, with the General Council and its subsidiary bodies conducting the work, reviewing progress, and considering decisions, as appropriate, for submission to MC13.
The 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) will be held in Abu Dhabi in 2024.
The General Council meeting regularly carries out the work of WTO. The General Council is the WTO’s highest-level decision-making body.
It has representatives (usually ambassadors or equivalent) from all member governments. The Ministerial Conference (MC) meets about every two years.
The General Council also meets, under different rules, as the Dispute Settlement Body and as the Trade Policy Review Body.
