Will WTO Break Deadlock In Next Major Meeting?

6/11/2022 12:00:46 PM

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) The entrance of WTO building, pictured ahead of the WTO Ministerial conference (MC12) in Geneva © Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

The 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) – postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic – will finally take place from Sunday in Geneva. It has the daunting task of tackling the Covid-19 vaccine patent waiver and food security.

This content was published on June 11, 2022 - 09:00 June 11, 2022 - 09:00

Born in Yokohama, Japan. I live in Switzerland since 1999. I hold a master's degree in international relations from Geneva. I am the Head of the Japanese section of swissinfo.ch since 2016. Previously, I worked for 15 years for Asahi Shimbun at the UN in Geneva, where I closely followed multilateral and Swiss affairs.

More from this author | Japanese Department

Born in England, I've lived in Switzerland since 1994. I trained as a graphic designer in Zurich between 1997 – 2002. More recently I have moved on to work as photo editor and joined the team at swissinfo.ch in March 2017.

More from this author | Multimedia Akiko Uehara (text), Helen James (photo editing)

日本語 (ja) WTOはこう着状態を打破できるか？
Italiano (it) Organizzazione mondiale del commercio, dove gli interessi economici si scontrano
Português (pt) Interesses econômicos colidem na OMC
Français (fr) A l'OMC, là où les intérêts économiques s'entrechoquent

Trade ministers from 164 WTO member states are due to meet from June 12-15 in Geneva for the Ministerial Conference, the highest decision-making body of the WTO. This is the first time members will meet in five years. The ministerial conference is normally held every two years and aims to reach agreements on global trade problems. The 12th session was originally scheduled in Kazakhstan in June 2020 but was postponed twice due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Since the last conference, the pandemic and war in Ukraine have upended geopolitics and put new issues on the ministers' table including food security and global access to health care.

▼ Past World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conferences in Geneva.

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