12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization is underway in Geneva under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan. Delegations from 164 countries, who are members of the Association, are discussing the most pressing issues of our time, including the decisions on fisheries subsidies, agriculture, the WTO’s response to the pandemic, issues related to the problems of the least developed countries and food security.
“First issue is the WTO's response to the pandemic. We are talking about automatic licensing of medicines, a certain relaxation of WTO rules on intellectual property so that vaccines developed in one country can then be distributed with less requirements for intellectual property protection. The second issue is, of course, a major food crisis. We clearly are aware that countries are often driven by their exclusive national agenda and impose export restrictions on grain, rice, oil. Therefore, the WTO, as a global organization, plans to adopt a relevant Declaration. And, of course, this is the reform of the WTO,” Timur Suleimenov, First Deputy Chief of Staff of Kazakhstan’s President, said.
The 12th Ministerial Conference will be held in Geneva until June 16.
Translation and editing by Saule Mukhamejanova
