WTO public forum begins tomorrow

The largest outreach event of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will start tomorrow at the multilateral trade
organisation’s secretariat in the Swiss city of Geneva.

Under the theme of ‘Re-globalization: Better Trade for a Better World,’ this
year’s forum will explore how re-globalization can help make trade more
inclusive and ensure that its benefits reach more people.

In particular, the forum will delve into how green policies, services, and
digitalisation can contribute to this objective.

The sub-themes of the forum are green policies to maximise the benefits of
trade, services trade to build progress and enhance welfare and
digitalisation as a catalyst for inclusive trade.

The public forum will feature 139 sessions from September 10-13. Sessions are
organised by WTO member governments, businesses, non-governmental
organisations, academia and international organisations with many sessions
livestreamed on the WTO website.

The forum will kick-off with the launch of the World Trade Report, which this
year will explore the complex interlinkages between trade and inclusiveness
across and within economies.

The forum will also feature a lecture by Jason Furman, Aetna Professor of the
Practice of Economic Policy at Harvard University and former Chairman of the
Council of Economic Advisers during Barack Obama’s tenure as President of the
United States.

Following his presentation, Professor Furman will have a fireside chat with
Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, giving participants the opportunity to
witness a candid exchange on the potential of re-globalization at a time of
geopolitical uncertainty.

Several interactive activities will be organised throughout the forum,
including an immersive exhibition by the International Trade Centre (ITC) to
celebrate their 60th anniversary.

Representatives from civil society, academia, business, government,
international organizations and the media have already arrived in Geneva to
participate in the forum.

The organisers have set up a packed schedule, anticipating a hectic week
ahead.

Talking to BSS, Barkat Ullah Maruf, director-partnerships and development
communication, COAST Foundation, said that the public forum offers an
opportunity to gather views, opinions and analyses from different
stakeholders in global trade.

“In a sense, it is an agenda-shaping exercise for the ministerial conference
which is the highest decision-making event of the organisation,” he added.

Maruf will attend the forum as a moderator at a panel on “Trade rules for
supporting small-scale farming as contributors to green trade in agriculture:
Which way forward?”

Maruf, however, said challenges posed by climate change and environmental
degradation have become a persistent determinant of the global agricultural
production and trade system.

Small farmers, across the developing and developed world, including
Bangladesh, have been at the heart of this discourse, he mentioned.

He informed that the farmers have been major contributors to sustainability
but have suffered most from the effects of climate change and environmental
devastation.

At the same time, their engagement in global trade has been rather limited
and precarious, made more vulnerable by global price volatility and an
uncertain global market, he added.

Barkat Ullah Maruf said the forum will also explore how small farmers can be
better integrated into the global production and trading system, how they can
contribute more and benefit from greener production and trading systems, how
the WTO as an institution and its Membership can cater to their needs, and
how trade policy outside the realm of the WTO can be synergised to better
deliver on both sustainability and food security. (BSS)