The World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has warned that the global trading system is currently enduring its “worst disruptions in the past 80 years.”
Speaking on Thursday at the commencement of the global trade body’s 14th ministerial conference in the Cameroonian capital, Okonjo-Iweala stated that the multilateral system and the world order as previously known have “irrevocably changed.”
She stressed that the scale of the challenges currently facing the globe cannot be denied. The conference brings together the 166 members of the WTO at a time when they appear significantly divided, reports AFP.
Against a backdrop of global economic instability linked to the war in the Middle East, ministers will spend four days in Yaoundé attempting to breathe new life into an institution currently weakened by geopolitical friction, stalled negotiations, and a rise in protectionism.
According to the director general, trade in energy, food, and fertiliser had already been destabilised prior to the conflict in the Gulf.
She noted that both international institutions and national governments are finding it difficult to navigate a landscape of intensifying climate pressures, rapid technological shifts, and heightening geopolitical tensions.
Okonjo-Iweala suggested that these disruptions are symptoms of a broader transformation of the international order that was established following the Second World War to prevent further global catastrophes.
Despite the “great disruption and uncertainty” caused by conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, and the Middle East, she remarked that it was appropriate to meet in Africa to discuss the future of the trading system. “Africa is the continent of the future,” she stated.
The WTO ministerial conferences are generally held every two years. This 14th session marks only the second time the event has been hosted in Africa, following the 2015 conference in Nairobi.
