Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds (second row, fourth from left), and participants of the Informal Gathering of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministers meeting in Paris, France, yesterday. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade)
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds, attended the Informal Gathering of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministers meeting, hosted by Australia, in the margins of meetings at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, on Tuesday, June 3, in Paris, France.
The closed-door session was the first time many of the 22 Ministers were gathering on the issue of WTO reform and in the presence of newly appointed representatives from Canada, the European Union and the United States of America.
There will be no official recommendations from the meeting, but there was clear agreement across the board that business as usual could not continue. Many representatives, especially those from developing countries, highlighted the importance of multilateralism and the WTO to their economies, micro, small, and medium enterprises and to their people.
During his intervention, Minister Symmonds said: “The WTO is at an inflexion point and we need a reform of perspective. We must value the multilateral trading system, and if we acknowledge its value, we must empower the Ambassadors in Geneva to deliver….
“Preservation of the WTO must be a priority, and we must all rethink our entrenched positions. The WTO has been well served by consensus decision making, and the worst option is to resolve issues unilaterally.”
The Foreign Minister used the opportunity to also meet bilaterally with the Vice President for Countries and Regional Integration at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Anabel González, to discuss the work of the IDB in Barbados, including the recently launched country strategy.
Discussions also touched on IDB’s support, in partnership with the International Trade Centre, on the WTO Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement. The officials also discussed future support for a renewed Barbados trade policy framework.
Additionally, Minister Symmonds met with WTO’s Director General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to reaffirm Barbados’ support for the WTO and that it would deliver on issues, including fisheries, development, e-commerce and agriculture, at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Cameroon in 2026.
Dr. Ngozi praised the leadership role that Barbados continued to play in Geneva, and noted that Barbados’ Ambassador to the WTO, Matthew Wilson, is “an empowered Ambassador”.
Accompanying the Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister was Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, World Trade Organisation and other International Organisations in Geneva, Mr. Wilson, and Senior Economist in the Ministry, Len-Jamal Craigg.
Author: Sheena Forde-Craigg
Source: https://gisbarbados.gov.bb/blog/barbados-participates-in-wto-informal-ministerial-gathering/
