The World Trade Organization logo is seen outside its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Picture: REUTERS/DENIS BALIBOUSE
Her priorities include tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, concluding the fisheries subsidies negotiations, reforming the dispute settlement system, and resolving outstanding issues on agriculture. She has also expressed a desire to improve dialogue and review the work on e-commerce, investment facilitation, services domestic regulation, small and medium-sized enterprises, women in trade, as well as trade and climate.
is faced with a real crisis of confidence: a key pillar of the WTO, the dispute settlement system that has provided certainty and robustness in the multilateral trading regime, has been under severe threat. A framework on trade and health, designed to facilitate universal access to Covid-19 vaccines, has been introduced. This is aimed at equipping countries to handle future health crises better. To combat the Covid-19 pandemic, developing countries have proposed a waiver by developed countries of specific rights and obligations afforded by the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement.