Overview
- Trade ministers opened the four‑day WTO meeting in Yaoundé on Thursday, with Director‑General Ngozi Okonjo‑Iweala warning the world order has changed and urging members to update the rulebook.
- The United States pressed for a permanent ban on customs duties for electronic transmissions, a more flexible path for plurilateral deals, and a rethink of the Most‑Favoured‑Nation principle and who qualifies for Special and Differential Treatment.
- India pushed back against a permanent e‑commerce moratorium, defended consensus decision‑making and development flexibilities, and called for restoring an automatic, binding dispute settlement system.
- Supporters of the Investment Facilitation for Development pact, which has about 128 signatories, sought to fold it into WTO rules through a plurilateral route, a step India opposes on institutional grounds.
- Diplomats warned that no concrete reform plan could spur countries to craft rules outside Geneva, raising real‑world stakes for businesses, farmers and fishers that rely on predictable trade rules.