BREAKING NEWS: Ministerial Agreement Again Reaches Stalemate, WTO Extends Ongoing Conference Till June 16

The World Trade Organization WTO has announced the extension of its four-day-long ongoing Ministerial Conference by a day, till Thursday, June 16.

In an urgent statement dispatched to heads of delegation on Wednesday, the WTO secretariat said the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) would be extended by one day until Thursday, 16 June.

Earlier on Tuesday night, WTO’s Director-General, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala anticipated to extend the ongoing ministerial by one day. She had suggested an extension to expedite the ministers to deliberate more on the contentious issues so as to achieve some tangible outcome out of the ministerial.

Faced with serious adversities and odds against the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) ending without a single result, the organization’s director general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela, proposed an extension on the third day of the top decision meeting in Geneva. Have given. Milan.

It appears to be a desperate move by the head of the WTO as member states hold on to their strong positions indicating that a “no solution” scenario is far better than going back home with an “adverse solution”.

That is why the Director-General asked the members to make extra efforts to coordinate with each other on various issues in the MC12, including a long-awaited agreement on the text of agreements relating to fisheries, in particular

Intellectual Property (IP) response in thematic sessions on fisheries subsidies and agriculture, and on trade and food security.

Timur Suleymenov, President of Kazakhstan and First Deputy Chief of Staff of the MC12 Chair, pointed out that “Members know by now what is doable, more time is needed to discuss and what is not possible. The last 22 hours of this conference Any attempt to backload it only increases the likelihood that we will all go home empty handed.