By Dionne Best
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (GIS) – Barbados has become the 60th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to join the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA). This declaration was made on Friday, March 13, by ambassador and permanent representative of Barbados to the United Nations, WTO and other International Organizations in Geneva, Matthew Wilson, at the General Council meeting, which is the highest decision-making body of the WTO.
The MPIA is a voluntary, alternative, and temporary mechanism designed to resolve WTO trade disputes among participating members, given the issues within the appellate body in the Dispute Settlement system. Barbados’ signing sends a strong political commitment of support for the legal integrity of the multilateral trading system.
Ambassador Wilson, stated:
“I am pleased to inform that Barbados will become a party to the MPIA. This sends a signal that small vulnerable economies like Barbados care about the multilateral trading system and want to invest in it.”
The two-day General Council meeting was the final high-level engagement of member states in Geneva before the 14th Ministerial Conference in Yaounde, Cameroon, which is scheduled to take place later this month.
Senior minister and minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, Christopher Sinckler, will be leading Barbados’ delegation to Cameroon and coordinating the 66 members of the Organization of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States, who are WTO members.
Ambassador Wilson took the floor on a number of occasions on behalf of the ACP group to address issues such as WTO reform, the E-commerce moratorium and work programme and to celebrate the first decision to be taken for the ministerial which focuses on small vulnerable economies.
Additionally, he presented the ministerial packages for the informal working group on medium, small and micro economies, which is chaired by Barbados, and the dialogue on plastics pollution, where Barbados serves as a co-convener.
Last week, Barbados also hosted an ACP retreat with the participation of the WTO director general, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, alongside representatives of the World Economic Forum, the International Chamber of Commerce and a high-level panel of ambassadors from Argentina, Canada, China, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK and the European Union.
This retreat also led to an ACP Ministerial Declaration for the WTO 14th Ministerial Conference, which sets out the priorities and interests of the ACP in areas ranging from agriculture, services and digital trade, to fisheries, WTO reform and development.
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