The Swiss Federal Councilor and Vice-President, Guy Parmelin, has highlighted the relationship between trade and health, stating that both should be mutually supportive in the fight against the current COVID-19 pandemic.
He stated this in his keynote address to the opening session of a virtual meeting with Senior government officials and representatives from the private sector, civil society, and intergovernmental organizations on 19th November 2020.
The meeting aimed to exchange views on the achievements and challenges facing the WTO as it marks its 25th anniversary.
Swiss Federal Councillor and Vice-President Guy Parmelin stated that the continued importance of the WTO and the multilateral trading system has been underlined by the current COVID-19 crisis, with global supply chains and open markets playing an important role in ensuring rapid access to medicines and other essentials needed to fight the pandemic.
“To the skeptics, I wish to remind them that international trade is part of the solution and not part of the problem. Trade and health can and should be mutually supportive.
“More broadly, the rules established under the WTO framework ensure the open markets that are essential for rapid and sustainable economic recovery from the pandemic crisis. These rules are the best defense against protectionism … they have rarely been as important as they are today because we need open markets to get out of this crisis.
“The current crisis has once again demonstrated our interdependence and the importance of cooperating to find solutions to contemporary problems. Let us take advantage of this crisis to get the organization back in shape for the rest of the 21st century”, Mr. Parmelin noted.
Speakers underlined the continued relevance of the rules-based trading system as demonstrated by the key role of trade in contributing to the COVID-19 pandemic response but said reform of the WTO must be made a priority to make the organization “fit for purpose” for trade in the 21st century.
David Walker, New Zealand’s Ambassador to the WTO and current Chair of the WTO’s General Council, said there was “a lot that we can be proud of” in the 25-year history of the organization.
“For all the criticisms, the WTO has played a central role in helping support the strength and stability of the global economy.
“At the same time, the world now is a very different place than it was in 1995. The ability of members to update and adjust the WTO’s rules to the changing conditions of trade is ultimately the only way to keep the WTO relevant to our economies and to foster our trade relations”.
“The WTO made a quick start with agreements in its infancy before entering its more challenged “teenage years”, a period which nevertheless saw the conclusion of the Trade Facilitation Agreement and the historic outcome on the elimination of agricultural export subsidies.
“Early adulthood has been more problematic but that should not lead to the conclusion that members cannot come together again to ensure the WTO remains fit for purpose.
“WTO members need to grasp their inner 25-year-old — old enough to realize it’s time to change, and young enough to do something about it,” Ambassador Walker said.
While commemorating the past, Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff stated that the focus should firmly be on the future and putting into place institutional and substantive reforms needed to carry out the WTO’s mission.
“A WTO of the future will be more effective and resilient, with improved governance by its members, served by a proactive independent secretariat that acts as the guardian of the world trading system, tasked with monitoring, providing analyses, initiating proposals, and increasing accountability with WTO disciplines.
“The path forward will most often not be easy. A very substantial investment of time and energy will be needed from all WTO members, imbued with a renewed sense of common purpose”, DDG Wolff said.
