The new Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has expressed her gratitude to HM King Mohammed VI for the unwavering support provided by Morocco to her candidacy during the process leading to her appointment as head of the organisation.
Dr Ngozi, who paid a visit to the headquarters of the Moroccan diplomatic mission in Geneva on Tuesday, expressed high appreciation for the royal message of congratulations that the Sovereign had sent to her following her appointment as new chief of the WTO.
During this visit, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Morocco in Geneva, Omar Zniber, and the Director General of the WTO held talks, which focused on the various and main issues currently under negotiation within the organisation, particularly those on which crucial decisions should be adopted in view of the 12th Ministerial Conference, scheduled for Geneva next December.
The two sides underlined the importance of building synergies, within the framework of inclusive approaches, to reach consensus on these crucial issues, including subsidies to fisheries, negotiations on agriculture and the moratorium on electronic commerce, as well as waivers relating to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.
Dr Ngozi highlighted the role of Morocco in the creation of the WTO, as well as its federating position in the current debates within the organisation.
Zniber, for his part, recalled the fundamental importance that Morocco attaches to a better integration of developing countries and in particular those of the African continent in world trade. He underlined,in this regard, the need to re-establish the WTO as the guarantor and regulator of trade agreements in favor of all and to avoid protectionist tendencies which appear to be increasingly threatening and hampering the efforts of developing countries.
The two sides underscored the urgent need to work to reduce the severe and negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy and to put in place the necessary health policies in which the WTO also has a role to play in facilitating access to vaccines and products used to provide care and treatment of patients.
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