TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Oct26/03)
2 October 2026
Third World Network

Trade: Transparency meeting reveals deep divides on WTO reform
Published in SUNS #10525 dated 2 October 2026

Geneva, 1 Oct (D. Ravi Kanth) -- The facilitators overseeing the controversial World Trade Organization reform tracks - namely, foundational issues, decision-making, "level playing field" (LPF) issues, and development - have apparently issued lengthy oral reports raising sharp concerns over form and substance. 

The reports were delivered during a transparency meeting on 30 September, according to people familiar with the development.

During meetings held over the past ten days - starting with foundational issues on 18 September, decision-making on 22 September, LPF issues on 24 September, and development on 28 September - many members raised sharp questions over the alleged attempts by the facilitators to guide the discussions toward outcomes propitious for the reform proponents, said people who asked not to be quoted.

Several developing countries sharply and adversely commented on the facilitators' reports.

In contrast, supporters of the controversial WTO reforms, such as Singapore, Mexico, and other members of the "Friends of the System" group, appeared to call for intensifying the discussions regardless of the differences on several issues.

The WTO reform proponents seemingly pressed for accelerating the pace of the discussions.

Mexico, for example, did not address the issue of development while seeking major changes to decision-making and exempting plurilateral trade negotiations from the core provisions of the Marrakesh Agreement, said people who asked not to be quoted.

The plenary transparency meeting, convened by the General Council (GC) chair, Ambassador Clare Kelly of New Zealand - who is also a party to a proposal along with Norway and Singapore on one of the reform issues - brought the unbridgeable differences on all four tracks to the fore, said people who preferred not to be quoted.

The facilitators apparently took more than an hour to present their lengthy reports, said one participant who asked not to be quoted.

Even though it was a transparency meeting convened by the GC chair, the WTO's Director-General, Ms. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, pitched in with comments that caused a surprise, the participant said.

Small countries like Sri Lanka, Antigua and Barbuda, and many other developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) apparently spoke against the conduct and issues related to transparency during the four sessions of the WTO reform discussions, said a trade envoy who asked not to be quoted.

The United States, which has continued to block the filling of vacancies on the Appellate Body since December 2019, apparently adopted a different strategy on WTO reforms at the transparency meeting, said people familiar with the development.

Even though discussions on WTO reforms remained inconclusive and replete with disagreements on all four tracks, the US apparently said the time for general discussion is over, seemingly emphasizing that Washington wants to discuss only concrete proposals, said people familiar with the discussions.

The US is also understood to have said that some reform issues appear to be advancing, while in other areas members have not presented any concrete proposals at this point in time, or there are no such concrete proposals at all, said people familiar with the development.

The US apparently said that discussions can continue at different paces, suggesting that the issues concerning the four tracks are at varying levels of movement, said people familiar with the development.

SOUTH VOICES CONCERNS

During the meeting, a large number of countries also raised issues concerning the logistics of convening meetings at a time when they are occupied in other negotiations.

India, for example, said it concurs with the coalition of least-developed countries, the African Group, the ACP (African, Caribbean, and Pacific) Group, the Eastern Caribbean States, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh that they are unable to cope with too many meetings taking place at the same time.

These countries also pointed out that they are unable to adequately reflect on all the issues and proposals across the four tracks, stressing that they cannot engage on each proposal at the level of attention it deserves.

Brazil, which seems to have concurred with the specific concerns raised by Sri Lanka and Antigua and Barbuda, apparently said that while it is participating in all plenary sessions, it believes that there is no common diagnostic among members regarding WTO shortcomings that need reform, said people familiar with the discussions.

According to Brazil, the first priority of members is to fix what is broken, particularly restoring the functionality of the dispute settlement mechanism.

In addition, members must assess and respond to the growing lack of compliance with existing rules, especially tariff commitments and the most-favoured-nation (MFN) foundational principle, Brazil is understood to have said.

Further, according to Brazil, decision-making seems to be "a solution in search of a problem and a circular discussion: the point of departure is that we agree not to change consensus as the means of making decisions."

Brazil seemingly argued that some members appear to want to modify the consensus principle for certain self- serving purposes without amending the Marrakesh Agreement, suggesting that such a move does not provide clarity and predictability for negotiations and the rules.

For Brasilia, "level playing field" issues must deal with agriculture, which is a priority issue for a majority of members.

It cautioned that "development" is a discussion of substance; not a means to curtail special and differential treatment or to graduate developing country members, undermining their legal rights, said people familiar with the discussions.

Brazil also touched on the views expressed by members, suggesting that they cover a wide range of issues and concerns on both the form and substance, arguing that members do not have a basis to "cherry-pick" topics or differentiate tracks, as WTO reform is an overarching and systemic endeavour, said people familiar with the discussions.

Brazil apparently made it known that the modalities for discussing WTO reform have not yet been agreed, suggesting that the current facilitation efforts are informal in nature.

In effect, Brazil appears to have warned that reform efforts could once again fail if members cannot collectively agree on the problems that must be addressed, said people familiar with the discussions.

Clearly, the transparency meeting exposed numerous concerns on both process and substance, and any attempts to portray the reform tracks as moving smoothly is far from reality, said people who asked not to be quoted.

The DG, in apparent anxiety to put a positive spin to the concerns raised by the developing countries, tried to depict them as a problem faced by all international organizations in Geneva, said trade envoys who asked not to be quoted. +