TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Feb26/01)
3 February 2026
Third World Network

WTO: MC14 seen as a foregone conclusion, with core mandates at risk
Published in SUNS #10373 dated 3 February 2026

Geneva, 30 Jan (D. Ravi Kanth) — The World Trade Organization’s 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14), to be held in Yaounde, Cameroon on 26-29 March, appears to be a foregone conclusion with three likely outcomes, while seemingly burying the previously mandated issues, unless developing countries put up a fierce resistance, said people familiar with the development.

The three anticipated outcomes at MC14 include launching further negotiations on controversial WTO reform issues to be concluded before the 15th Ministerial Conference, a forced deal on incorporating the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA) into Annex 4 of the WTO Agreement; and extension of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, said several trade envoys who asked not to be quoted.

As part of the WTO reform package, MC14 could also witness an outcome on opening the floodgates for any groups of countries to launch plurilateral negotiations.

“The Yaounde meeting, based on the above anticipated outcomes, could be the burial ground for the multilateral trading system and the WTO because its provisions are almost being turned into proverbial vegetables,” said a trade envoy who asked not to be quoted.

Reducing the “Ministerial Conversation on Past Mandates” to the last item in the breakout sessions at MC14, while elevating ministerial discussions on “decision-making”, “development and S&DT”, and “level playing field issues” to the top of the discussions on 27 March has come under severe criticism, said people familiar with the development.

Even as the WTO’s Director-General, Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, functions as the chair of the Trade Negotiations Committee under the mandate of the Doha Work Programme, the poor treatment accorded to the mandated issues remains a proverbial eyesore for the organization, as without dismantling the Doha Work Programme, there is little or no moral credibility to discussing issues outside the Programme, said trade envoys who asked not to be quoted.

It appears that at the recently-held “green room” meeting on 26 January, China called for discussing all three reform issues – “decision-making”, “development and S&DT”, and “level playing field issues” – together and not separately, said people familiar with the discussions.

Ironically, as China is being targeted by the United States and the European Union in their reform proposals for its alleged subsidies to its state-owned enterprises, Beijing is seemingly prepared to join ranks with the same countries in changing the “decision-making” principle as well as development and S&DT (which was part of the Enabling Clause of 1979), said people familiar with the discussions.

POSSIBLE MODALITIES

Meanwhile, in the “possible modalities, substance and way forward” proposed by the DG in the restricted proposal (Job/TNC/127/Rev.2/Add.1), seen by the SUNS, it is suggested that the “main messages” should include the following three items:

* Reaffirm the relevance and resilience of the WTO amidst global uncertainty.

* Underscore the need for repositioning and reform of the WTO.

* Opportunity to highlight issues and interests of concern to Africa and the larger WTO membership (agriculture, development, and policy space for industrial development).

According to former South African trade official Vahini Naidu, even though MC14 is being projected as a meeting to be held on African soil with repeated emphasis on development and African priorities, “the programme structure relies heavily on parallel formats that disperse Ministers and coalitions for much of the Conference.”

She argues that it “raises questions about the extent to which the format enables collective political visibility and signalling by African and other developing-country Members, and how development priorities are articulated within the overall Ministerial narrative.”

In a similar vein, she said the issue of “development and S&DT” is being placed within a single reform breakout alongside “decision-making” and “level-playing-field issues.”

She added that “this configuration differs from the approach taken in most reform submissions, which generally recognise development as a core objective of the WTO, reflected in the Marrakesh Agreement, and treat S&DT as one of several instruments through which development concerns are addressed, rather than as a proxy for development itself.”

Since there are no active negotiations on S&DT, but rather a range of papers reflecting divergent perspectives, Naidu points out that “concentrating development within a single breakout may limit systematic consideration of development implications in other reform and substantive discussions, despite development being relevant across a wide range of WTO disciplines.”

Moreover, with the US and the EU broadly aligning their positions against the continuation of Most-Favoured- Nation (MFN) treatment (non-discrimination), the programme for MC14 refers “to foundational principles such as Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) treatment, [but] it provides limited space to engage with the concrete developments that are currently testing those principles. These include the growing use of unilateral trade measures, increasing recourse to national or essential security rationales, and a wider shift toward arrangements and practices operating outside agreed multilateral processes.”

According to Naidu, “in the current environment, where the need to “restore” or “save” the WTO is frequently invoked, the absence of structured discussion on these systemic stresses is notable.”

Further, Naidu said “many Members are experiencing the practical effects of heightened uncertainty and reduced predictability in the application of trade rules. Yet the reform agenda, as currently framed, appears to prioritise reaffirmation of abstract principles over examination of the practices that are most visibly reshaping how those principles function in practice.”

DG’S LETTER

In the face of growing criticism over the number of breakout sessions and facilitators, the DG wrote to members on 28 January, stating that “I greatly appreciate the feedback you provided, which I am currently reflecting on with a view to further revising the draft document.”

“Given the feedback received, we are anticipating a reduction in the number of breakout groups and sessions,” the DG said, after members complained about the need for so many breakout sessions, with China having suggested the need to discuss all three reform issues together, said people familiar with the development.

The DG further wrote: “As such, we will not require as many Minister Facilitators as initially envisaged. Nonetheless, delegations that wish to suggest names for Minister Facilitators are invited to do so by Friday, 6 February 2026.”

Ms. Okonjo-Iweala told members, “As you are aware, MC14 will take place in Yaounde, Cameroon, from 26 to 29 March 2026, against a backdrop of exceptional turbulence for the global economy and the multilateral trading system. Heightened geopolitical tensions, increasing economic fragmentation, and mounting pressures on development prospects will frame your Ministers’ engagement in critical discussions on reforming the Organization to ensure that it remains relevant, effective, and credible.”

Interestingly, in her interview with CNN in Davos, Switzerland last week, the DG highlighted the unilateral tariffs being imposed by the Trump administration as being “outside the WTO.”

It is not clear whether the DG still holds the same view at a time when she continues to exhort WTO reforms without addressing the core issue of unilateral tariffs, said several trade envoys who asked not to be quoted. +