GENEVA: The head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday (Oct 24) voiced optimism that trade deals could be reached at the next major ministerial meeting in February 2024.

More than 1,000 trade officials are meeting in Geneva this week to try to advance negotiations ahead of a meeting in the United Arab Emirates next year where deals are being sought on fisheries and WTO reforms, among other topics.

“All in all it was a positive meeting. Dare I say it lifted my spirits that we are on the right path to achieving the deliverables,” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told a press conference.

“It was clear to me from the discussions that negotiators in Geneva have the political mandate now to try to achieve breakthroughs,“ she added, citing issues such as e-commerce and fisheries subsidies.

The Nigerian-American economist pointed to talks on fisheries and dispute settlements that particularly “lifted my spirits”.

She also welcomed the “collaborative” approach of the United States in the discussions on the reform of the WTO dispute settlement system.

The body that examines appeals to the WTO in the event of trade disputes has been inoperative since December 2019 because Washington has systematically blocked the renewal of its judges.

At the 2022 ministerial meeting, however, the WTO nations committed themselves to setting up a fully operational dispute settlement system “by 2024”, with the aim of reaching an agreement on this at the meeting in Abu Dhabi which will take place from Feb 26-29.

WTO members reached a historic package of deals in June 2022 including a ban on some fishing subsidies that has the potential to reverse collapsing fish stocks. However, only part of the deal was finalised and negotiations continue.

“It is clearly our ambition to conclude the negotiations by December,” the talks’ chair Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson of Iceland told Reuters earlier on Tuesday, saying senior officials had communicated a “strong commitment” to advance. – Reuters, AFP