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The 13th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference kicked off in Abu Dhabi, UAE, with a focus on the smooth transition for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as they graduate. The LDCs, represented by the WTO’s LDG Group, are voicing their shared concerns, with 15 out of 45 countries currently navigating the graduation process.

Leading the Nepali delegation is Minister for Industry, Commerce, and Supplies Ramesh Rijal. 

During the four-day conference, WTO members will be seeking to secure “deliverables” during their four-day meeting in areas such as fisheries subsidies, agriculture, WTO reform, development, e-commerce, services and investment facilitation. Also on the ministers’ agenda will be how to make progress in their discussions on gender and the environment.

In his welcoming speech to the Conference,  Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and MC13 Chair, stressed the historically important role the WTO has played to provide “stability, transparency and predictability for international trade,” contributing to “raising living standards, improving employment opportunities and enabling the expansion of trade in goods and services” around the world.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala urged members to show leadership, flexibility and compromise to deliver important outcomes at MC13 for people and the planet. “Success is changing the tone about the WTO, both outside and within it. We will always have our naysayers and detractors but there is no doubt that members have shown that we can deliver when members roll up their sleeves and muster the requisite political will. During the last several weeks, the atmosphere in our preparatory discussions in Geneva has been more constructive and conducive than it was in the run-up to MC12,” she said.

In Oct 2023, WTO members reached a significant milestone with the adoption of a General Council decision on the market access element of the LDC’s proposal. This decision encourages preference-granting members to provide a smooth and sustainable period for the withdrawal of duty-free market access opportunities once countries graduate from LDC status.

Nepal qualified to graduate from the LDC category in 2021 and it is set to graduate in 2026. But the country still faces numerous challenges. The issue of LDC graduation remains a key foreign policy agenda item, with Nepal urging larger countries to continue providing trade privileges for a few years post-graduation. In turn, these larger countries are seeking Nepal’s LDC graduation strategy as soon as possible. 

While graduation is a significant development achievement, it also presents challenges, particularly the loss of preferential access to other countries’ markets, which could hinder integration into the global economy. Currently, LDCs receive special treatment from the international community, particularly in trade and development cooperation, known as international support measures.

That is why, according to the WTO secretariat, LDC Group has been discussing with other WTO members the issue of special and differential treatment in the sub-committee on LDC, with the aim of potentially reaching consensus at the ongoing conference. For an LDC like Nepal, special measures are necessary to prevent any loss of economic growth and maintain a current space of development.

Over the past four years, the WTO’s LDC Group has been discussing a smooth transition mechanism to extend LDC-specific preferences and provisions in WTO agreements after graduation. Discussions are also underway in the WTO sub-committee on LDCs’ other requests relating to special and differential treatments.

A WTO member graduates from LDC status when it meets certain socio-economic thresholds set by the United Nations, with the decision made by UN members based on the recommendation of the Committee for Development Policy. Out of the 15 LDCs on the path towards graduation, 10  (Angola, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Djibouti, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Senegal, Solomon Islands and Zambia) are WTO members. Three (Comoros, Sao Tomé and Principe, and Timor-Leste) are in the process of negotiating their WTO accession. Ministers formally approved the WTO membership terms of Comoros and Timor- Leste at a special ceremony held at the 13th WTO ministerial conference.The other two graduating LDCs are Kiribati and Tuvalu.

Meanwhile, ministers representing 123 WTO members issued a joint declaration marking the finalization of the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD), which is expected to contribute to LDC graduation. Vice-Minister of Trade of Chile Claudia Sanhueza highlighted that the agreement demonstrates the WTO’s ability to deliver for global trade and development and address current challenges.  “Once implemented, the IFD agreement is expected to foster significant economic growth in developing and LDC members and extend its benefits to non-participants,” she said. 

LDC countries like Nepal are in dire need of more sustainable investment flows.

Similarly, small economies integration into the international trading system is another major issue for the LDC countries. The draft decision calls for WTO members to address the issue of integrating small economies into the multilateral trading system by looking into issues such as the impact of non-tariff measures on trade costs, the link between trade policies and climate change adaptation, global supply chains, e-commerce and digital ecosystem. The decision on small economies was adopted by the trade ministers at the12th ministerial conference held in Geneva in 2022. 

The WTO meeting which has 166 members is taking place at a time when geopolitical tension is rising, ongoing trade war between US and China, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing trade restrictions across the globe. According to Reuters, the WTO faces a large number of difficult issues  among its 166 members, including reforming its hobbled dispute settlement system, cutting fishing subsidies, resolving disagreements over agriculture subsidies and deciding whether to extend a 25-year-old ban on duties on electronic commerce data transmissions.

Key agendas:

Accessions

Agriculture

Development

E- commerce

Environment

Fisheries subsidies

Investment Facilitation

Ip/ Tripes

Wto reform

LDC graduation

Nirmal Kumar Upreti, an advocate and social worker with almost 20 years of experience, believes what Nepal needs right now is more awareness. Through his organization, Forum for Nation Building (FNB), he educates people in remote areas about legal awareness, and legal literacy, and provides free legal counseling to marginalized and vulnerable groups.

Upreti, 40, is doing some impressive work at FNB. He’s taking a synergic approach to addressing issues like human rights, access to justice, foreign employment, sustainable development, migration, and youth concerns. Apart from all that, FNB does a lot of different things too, from quick disaster rescue to legal awareness programs and leading advocacies for good causes. 

Since 2014, his organization has been at the forefront of advocating a ban on nuclear weapons in Nepal, which is indeed a groundbreaking initiative for the country. They’re also associated with Nobel Peace Prize-winning International organizations like ‘International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons’ (ICAN). Under Upreti’s leadership, FNB has been acknowledged with two significant nominations. They were finalists in the 2017 Justice Prize Competition and also won the 2018 Public Interest Litigation Network (PILnet) Pro Bono Local Impact Award for their voluntary legal awareness work.

Over the past ten years, they’ve personally helped over 48,000 people and reached nearly 26 remote areas in Nepal. Despite Nepal making progress, Upreti still believes not everyone is getting the information they need. That is why he has been to those places, to lend a hand and directly share necessary information. “I like to help people in any way I can. It makes me happy and brightens my day,” he says.

Upreti is also a founder president and currently the patron of the Nepalese Law Students Association (NeLSA), where law students and professionals have come together to start the Community Mobile Legal Clinic Aid project in Nepal. The project aims to assist people in understanding the law better and getting the justice they deserve.

Upreti believes lawyers are ‘social engineers’ and can bring about change and tweak society. 

He hopes students will step up to fulfill their roles in their communities too. The project helps students become socially responsible legal professionals and encourages them to help those in need of legal aid. The project received the UNDP Success Story Award in 2010. But that’s not all. The advocate has been teaming up with the Nepal Bar Association, Bar Council, and various law colleges to get more students involved in the project.

“Through the project, I want to focus on offering free legal services to people in remote places of Nepal,” says Upreti, talking about their work during the earthquake and COVID. “We were quick to respond to disasters and provide supplies, give counseling, and legal aid.” What’s more, international organizations like Nelson Mandela University in South Africa and the Ontario Legal Clinic, in Canada, are now adopting their pioneering project approach. “This has helped us connect with larger donor agencies,” he says.

Upreti talks about the challenges faced by Nepali migrant workers, emphasizing the missed opportunities and their lack of access to essential services. Concerns over this have prompted him to speak out on the matter, focusing on how fundamental rights are being violated. He also collaborates with other networks to try to provide legal support to migrant workers.

He is also on the board of the National Network for Safe Migration (NNSM), which is the umbrella body for all the organizations responsible for migration-related issues. He says his three-year experience working in the Foreign Employment Board under the Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security has provided him insight into the matter. During his time there, he helped rescue injured and scammed workers from various countries.

His efforts in advocating for youth policy in 2010 are noteworthy. Before then, youth matters were only dealt with by a small section under the Ministry of Education. Upreti wasn’t happy with how things were so he, along with some youth groups, took out protests and presented a memorandum, asking for a separate policy and ministry for youth. Their actions led to the formulation of youth policy laws and even a new ministry, which also contributed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals at that time.

He’s been speaking up against age discrimination as he believes it’s wrong for people to be judged by their age. “It goes against fundamental rights because capabilities and needs can’t be determined solely by age,” he says. He finds it unfair that members of the national assembly and other higher government posts must be at least 35 years old. This, he says, is a huge disadvantage for Nepal’s youth population. 

Apart from that, he’s also actively involved in sustainable development initiatives including gender-responsive programs, promoting women’s participation, engaging in policy discussions, creating laws, and gathering community feedback.

Upreti believes Nepal is committed to universal human rights standards but struggles to implement them fully. He says just having laws in place isn’t enough. We need clear procedures and policies while monitoring inclusivity. He pledges to do his part in enhancing social welfare through mobile clinics, policy dialogues, and legal initiatives.

The body of veteran singer and composer Bhakta Raj Acharya has been kept on the premises of Nepal Academy of Music and Drama in Gaucharan for the final tributes.

Actors, politicians, general public and well-wishers among others have reached the Academy to pay their final tributes.  

Acharya is known as ‘Bhajan Shiromani’ in the Nepali music industry.

He died at the Medicity Hospital at the age of 81 on Monday afternoon.

The last rites of Acharya will be performed at Pashupati Aryaghat today itself.

The 13th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC13) opened in Abu Dhabi on 26 February with a call to WTO members to seize the full potential of the multilateral trading system so that it delivers for the people it serves, accelerating the green transition and fostering socio-economic inclusion around the world. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala urged members to show leadership, flexibility and compromise to deliver important outcomes at MC13 for people and the planet.

In his welcoming speech to the Conference, H.E. Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and MC13 Chair, stressed the historically important role the WTO has played to provide "stability, transparency and predictability for international trade," contributing to "raising living standards, improving employment opportunities and enabling the expansion of trade in goods and services" around the world.

The opening ceremony was attended by Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. Director-General Okonjo-Iweala thanked the UAE for their efficient organization of the Ministerial Conference, the second to take place in the Gulf region after Doha in 2001. 

"Trade runs through this nation's blood. The UAE testifies to how trade can improve lives and livelihoods of people and transform a small or non-diversified economy into a formidable, resilient and prosperous one," she said.

Recalling the successful outcome of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12) in June 2022 in Geneva, where ten consensus multilateral outcomes with tangible benefits for people and the planet were achieved, DG Okonjo-Iweala noted that members sent a powerful signal that the WTO can respond to contemporary challenges through strategic cooperation in pursuit of shared goals.

"Success is changing the tone about the WTO, both outside and within it. We will always have our naysayers and detractors but there is no doubt that members have shown that we can deliver when members roll up their sleeves and muster the requisite political will. During the last several weeks, the atmosphere in our preparatory discussions in Geneva has been more constructive and conducive than it was in the run-up to MC12," she said. 

"Our challenge this week is to prove that we can still deliver and demonstrate that MC12 was not a one-off miracle on Lake Geneva. We need to convert improved atmospherics into concrete results. We need to show the world that not only does the WTO underpin over three-quarters of global goods commerce – it is also a forum where members deliver new benefits for people through trade," she added.

WTO members will be seeking to secure “deliverables” during their four-day meeting in areas such as fisheries subsidies, agriculture, WTO reform, development, e-commerce, services and investment facilitation. Also on the ministers' agenda will be how to make progress in their discussions on gender and the environment. 

The opening session saw the adoption of the accessions of Comoros and Timor-Leste, both least-developed countries.

The President of Comoros, Azali Assoumani, and the President of Timor-Leste, José Manuel Ramos-Horta, signed the respective Protocols of Accession to the WTO, which were also signed by DG Okonjo-Iweala. Both governments will now submit their protocols for ratification by their legislative assemblies. In keeping with WTO rules, Comoros and Timor-Leste will become members of the WTO 30 days following the deposit of their respective instruments of acceptance of the Protocol.

Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi said: "The decisions we have just taken on the accession of Comoros – an island LDC in Africa – and the accession of Timor-Leste – an island LDC in Asia – testify to the world's confidence in the WTO and the multilateral trading system. I strongly believe that through their future membership in the WTO, Comoros and Timor-Leste will have stable and predictable frameworks for economic engagement with other nations which will boost trade, growth and prosperity."    

The MC13 opening ceremony also saw a wave of acceptances of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. Eight members deposited their instruments of acceptance of the Agreement, putting the historic agreement for ocean sustainability on track for entry into force at record pace. Ministers of Brunei Darussalam, Chad, Malaysia, Norway, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Togo and Türkiye presented their instruments of acceptance to Director-General Okonjo-Iweala.

The MC13 Chair said: "This is a testament to your governments' commitment to the sustainability of our oceans and to ensuring that multilaterally negotiated outcomes in the WTO are not only agreed – but implemented. As one of the early ratifiers, the United Arab Emirates welcomes the new ratifications as a reaffirmation of this collective commitment."

A new element for ministers at MC13 will be deliberative sessions on trade and sustainable development, and on trade and inclusion. These sessions are intended to provide space for engagement on issues at the centre of contemporary economic debate and the future of trade policy. "We have put questions to ministers to facilitate constructive discussions. These sessions are an experiment – one that I hope will go well so that we can replicate that in the future," said DG Okonjo-Iweala. 

Amidst a very challenging geopolitical and economic environment with higher prices for food, energy and other essentials, shipping disruptions in vital waterways and upcoming elections in some 60 countries this year, trade remains resilient, DG Okonjo-Iweala highlighted. 

"Despite everything we have been through, global goods and services trade remain at or near record highs. International markets anchored in the rules-based global trading system have stayed broadly open, helping businesses, households and economies adapt and adjust to one shock after another. But it would be dangerously naïve to take trade's continued resilience for granted," she said. 

She also stressed that multilateralism is under attack. "Despite the MC12 fightback, the multilateral trading system, which I term a global public good since it was created 75 years ago, continues to be misconstrued in some quarters and undermined," she said.

However, trade remains critical to delivering on many national and global priorities: boosting growth, expanding economic opportunities, meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, and solving collective action problems like protecting our environment or preparing for the next pandemic, she said. 

"Without cooperation on trade, we would move towards an increasingly fragmented world economy, and all of these priorities would become harder, costlier, and in some cases impossible to achieve. People would become more disappointed, more vulnerable, more frustrated. In light of these realities, we need the WTO to stand strong as it approaches its 30th anniversary," she added. 

Pre-recorded and written statements delivered by trade ministers and heads of delegation have been posted on the WTO website following the opening session. Following the practice initiated at MC12, WTO members and observers were asked to submit these statements ahead of the gathering in Abu Dhabi rather than deliver them in person in plenary sessions.