The Pakistan delegation, led by Minister of State for Finance and Railways, Mr. Bilal Azhar Kayani, has actively participated in various meetings in Yaounde, Cameroon during the ongoing 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The Minister has represented Pakistan’s position in Multilateral Discussions during WTO Reform breakout sessions on Foundational Issues, Decision Making, Development and Level Playing Field. He emphasized the need for strengthening the rule-based trade system combining inclusivity and flexibility to meet the new challenges by building trust and promoting transparency.
The Minister also took the floor in the plenary session of Reform late at night to share Pakistan’s position on the Facilitator’s report for protecting vital trade interests of Pakistan.
As Minister-Facilitator for Agriculture at the Ministerial Conference, to assist the WTO members in reaching a consensus outcome on agriculture, he has held extensive bilateral talks on the sidelines of the conference with Ministers of the United Kingdom (Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Business and Trade), Turkiye (Dr. Ömer Bolat, Minister of Trade), Japan (Yukinoro Nemoto, Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries) and Cotton-4 members, and Senior Officials of US, Brazil, China, EU, Cameroon, Mozambique, Canada, and Argentina.
He emphasized cooperation to send a positive signal to farmers and growers of member states who look to the WTO for predictability and fairness in Agriculture trade, production and, food and livelihood security. He thanked his counterparts and officials for not only engaging constructively and positive cooperation for developing convergences on the draft but also in helping to bring other members to join the declaration.
The Ministers and senior officials of members acknowledged and commended the efforts of Minister-Facilitator Bilal Azhar Kayani, and Pakistan’s Ambassador / Permanent Representative to WTO, Ali Sarfraz Hussain for their efforts in reaching a consensus. The Pakistan delegation’s participation continues on Saturday 28 March and Sunday 29 March.