WTO REFORM

The following communication, dated 30 October 2025, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of Mozambique on behalf of the African Group.

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1  INTRODUCTION

1.1.  This communication is submitted to contribute to the ongoing discussions on WTO reform.

1.2.  Since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round and the establishment of the WTO through the Marrakesh Agreement, the multilateral trading system has played a critical role in liberalizing trade and promoting predictable and transparent rules-based governance for the benefit of all Members. However, the system now faces multiple challenges - from slow progress on the Doha Development Agenda to rising protectionism, digital transformation, climate change, and geopolitical fragmentation which threatens economic growth and sustainable development especially for low income developing countries.

1.3.  The reform process must be Member-driven and the outcomes should aim to make the WTO, as a multilateral institution that all Members have collectively built, better able to respond to the needs and interests of all Members. WTO reform ought to reaffirm the core principles of fairness, inclusivity, and development. WTO reform must not become an open-ended exercise. Reform needs to be built on existing Ministerial mandates, including the Doha Development Agenda, which represents the only multilateral development focused negotiating framework endorsed by consensus.

1.4.  Market access issues, including non-tariff barriers and subsidies, continue to create an uneven playing field. Reform must not be used as a vehicle to entrench asymmetries or introduce new forms of exclusion. Instead, the process should restore trust in the multilateral trading system and ensure that it delivers for all Members, irrespective of size or level of development.

1.5.  We believe that reform should focus on resolving longstanding imbalances, revitalizing negotiations on agriculture including cotton, and development, restoring a two tier, fully functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all Members, and enhancing the participation of developing countries through capacity-building and equitable rules.

1.6.  We welcome the opportunity to contribute substantively to this reform process, and remain committed to constructive engagement to ensure that it delivers balanced and development-oriented outcomes.

2  GUIDING PRINCIPLES ON WTO REFORM

2.1.  The WTO reform should be anchored in the objectives of the WTO enshrined in the preamble of the Marrakesh Agreement and based on the following foundational principles:

2.1 Development-Centered Reform

2.2.  The WTO’s core mandate is the promotion of development and equitable growth through a rules-based multilateral trading system. The centrality of development within the WTO’s work must be preserved as a core legal obligation. The preamble of the Marrakesh Agreement explicitly mandates 'positive efforts to ensure that developing countries secure improved living standards, reduce unemployment, achieve economic growth, and secure a share in trade growth commensurate with their development needs.

2.3.  Our shared vision is of a WTO that functions effectively, transparently, and equitably anchored in development justice and reflective of the realities of all its Members. WTO reform should give priority to development by addressing the special and differential treatment stalemate and the calls for the WTO to contribute towards industrial development. WTO Reform outcomes should be geared towards sustainable development and result in poverty reduction, industrialization, and job creation.

2.4.   A WTO development index should be integrated in the reform discussions as a legal and institutional ecosystem that uses data to shape negotiations, allocate resources effectively, and assess Members' commitments and obligations. This will ensure the WTO delivers on one of its foundational objectives: trade-led development by ensuring that reform serves developing countries and LDCs.

2.2  Preservation and Operationalization of Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT)

2.5.  Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT) remains a cornerstone of the WTO’s development mandate and should remain operational and responsive to development needs. The provision of flexibilities and S&DT as a catalyst for sustainable development and greater integration of developing countries into global trade ought to be meaningful, preserved, and not diluted. It is important to strengthen existing flexibilities with a view to making them more precise, more effective and more operational, based on paragraph 44 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, which has guided the WTO's work on special and differential treatment since 2001. S&DT provisions should serve as positive enablers accorded to developing countries and LDCs according to criteria to be agreed on, in line with their levels of economic development.

2.3  Equity, Fairness, and Balance in the Trading System

2.6.  The need to correct systemic trade imbalances, especially in agriculture, by curbing harmful subsidies and enabling policies that support African value addition and competitiveness, must be addressed. Reforms which address market access challenges, non-tariff barriers and trade-distorting subsidies should be prioritized. Concrete and time-bound actions are required to address these challenges and create a truly level playing field.

2.4  Inclusivity, Transparency, and Equal Participation

2.7.  The credibility and legitimacy of the WTO depends on inclusive, transparent, and participatory processes. A shared reform objective and outcome document to be presented to Ministers at the Fourteenth Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Yaoundé, Cameroon must be prepared through a bottom-up, inclusive, and transparent process.

2.5  Preservation of Consensus-Based Decision-Making

2.8.  The consensus principle is fundamental to ensuring inclusivity and protecting the interests of all Members. The practice of consensus was embedded in the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO in 1995. Decision-making by consensus evolved from the GATT 1947 and it was codified within the multilateral trading system to level the playing field in decision-making processes and avoid power dynamics from influencing multilateral outcomes. Consensus-based decision-making must be preserved as a vital cornerstone of Members’ sovereign equality. No efforts should be made to undermine this core principle either through descriptive language or reinterpretation.

2.9.  Improving governance through reform must include procedural reforms that institutionalize inclusivity, enhance transparency, and ensure that all Members, regardless of power or influence, participate equally.

2.6  Policy Space for Industrial Development

2.10.  The recalibration of the WTO policy toolbox to advance industrialisation and structural transformation must be part of reform discussions. Commodity dependence leaves developing countries vulnerable to international price shocks, particularly in the context of global uncertainty, with such events, among others, triggering reversals in capital inflows and generating macroeconomic dislocation that results in dwindling revenues, debt spirals, inflation, and poverty.[1] The outcome of the WTO reform must ensure that WTO rules do not constrain legitimate development tools such as industrial policy, technology upgrading or local content measures, allowing countries to promote industrialization, structural transformation, and diversification of their economies to improve living standards and strengthen sustainable integration.

2.7  Technology Transfer and Capacity Building

2.11.  The relationship between trade and transfer of technology cannot be over-emphasized. Technology and technical know-how are essential for improving productivity, promoting growth, and attaining the development aspirations of less developed Members; and for integrating developing countries into the multilateral trading system." The WTO reform must contribute towards the reinvigoration of the discussions on trade and transfer of technology across multiple WTO bodies including the Working Group on trade and transfer of Technology. The outcome of the discussions and any progress made should be submitted to Ministerial Conferences for considerations.

2.8  Balanced Treatment of Traditional and Emerging Issues

2.12.  While it is important to address emerging issues like digital trade, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and climate change through a development lens, WTO reform should prioritize longstanding issues such as agriculture reform, and avoid side-lining unresolved priorities from the Doha Development Agenda.

2.9  Preserve and implement existing Ministerial decisions and Ministerial Declarations

2.13.  All aspects of the reform process and its outcomes must uphold existing Ministerial decisions and declarations, especially the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). These decisions, adopted through consensus by all Members, reflect hard-won compromises and legally binding commitments that form the backbone of the multilateral trading system. Preserving and effectively implementing them is not only a matter of institutional integrity, but also essential to ensuring legal certainty, predictability, stability in global trade governance and enhancing trust in the multilateral trading system. Any attempts to disregard or reinterpret these mandates would undermine the legitimacy of the WTO framework and further erode trust among Members.

3  KEY AREAS AND EXPECTED OUTCOMES OF WTO REFORM

4  EMERGING AND CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES

4.1.  We acknowledge the importance of emerging issues such as digital trade, AI, climate change, supply chain resilience. The introduction of new issues must not overshadow nor divert attention and resources from unresolved longstanding development priorities, including agriculture, S&DT, market access, and the implementation of existing agreements.

4.2.  The African Group remains committed to constructive engagement that is inclusive of all Members while emphasizing that:

•_          Emerging issues must be sequenced to avoid side-lining core development priorities such as agriculture, S&DT, and capacity-building,

•_          Digital trade and AI must prioritize development, ensuring inclusion, technology access, and policy space needed for Africa's industrialization and digital growth.

•_          Climate trade measures must avoid protectionism, reflect common but differentiated responsibilities, and support Africa’s green industrialization.

•_          Negotiations on emerging issues should be inclusive, transparent, development-focused, and consider the limited capacity of our delegations in Geneva.

•_          Address market access challenges.

5  WAY FORWARD

5.1.  This communication should be considered by the Facilitator on WTO reform, the WTO Secretariat and the General Council Chair in all WTO reform processes. The outcome of WTO reform should enable all members to participate meaningfully in the evolving global economy and positively contribute to national development strategies.

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