The 14th WTO Ministerial conference ended at the end of March, with some of the most important items on the agenda remaining out of reach. With talks on these outstanding items now to be carried over back to Geneva, some of the WTO members expressed disappointment with the capability of the WTO to serve as an effective platform for reaching crucial trade accords[1]. Nonetheless the momentum towards further progress on critical trade liberalization items remains alive and the WTO remains a key driver of market openness in an increasingly challenging global environment. In our view, one of the items on the WTO reform agenda that may have merited greater focus in the Ministerial discussions was the role of regionalism and its greater connectivity with a reformed WTO.
The outcome of the 2026 WTO Ministerial conference could hardly be viewed with optimism as such critical deliverables as an agreement on a work program on WTO reform or the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA) were not adopted. There was also no agreement reached on an extension of the moratorium on e-commerce duties, nor the adoption of a final ministerial declaration. According to the WTO, “the emerging Yaoundé package that members would be bringing back to Geneva includes the following:
- the draft Yaoundé Ministerial Declaration on WTO Reform and Work Plan;
- the draft Ministerial Decision on Electronic Commerce;
- the draft Ministerial Decision on the Moratorium on TRIPS Non-Violation and Situation Complaints; and
- the least developed country (LDC) package”[2].
In terms of the outcomes of the 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14), the WTO notes the decision to continue talks on fisheries subsidies “with the aim of making recommendations to the 15th Ministerial Conference to achieve the comprehensive disciplines on fisheries subsidies referred to in Article 12 of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies”[3].
The Ministers also approved the MC14 decisions endorsed earlier by WTO members in Geneva[4]:
- on enhancing the precise, effective and operational implementation of special and differential treatment provisions in the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)
- on improving the integration of small economies into the multilateral trading system
The latter decision pertaining to integrating the small economies into the world trading system has been one of our calls in the past several years, in particular we noted the “scope for the WTO to increasingly take into account the position of small and vulnerable economies (SVEs) on critical global issues such as climate change”[5]. We further called for greater support from multilateral organizations to be provided to small economies in mobilizing their resources and creating joint platforms of economic cooperation.
Overall, while the outcome of the 2026 WTO Ministerial may be treated as at least some progress amid a challenging global environment[6], it is clear that the attainment of agreements came with great difficulty and delay. The world trading system is in need of supporting pillars for the WTO as well as back-up options in case the organization continues to experience gridlocks. In this respect, it is disappointing that no significant work has been undertaken to integrate more closely the regional trade arrangements (RTAs) into the multilateral circle of the global system centered on the WTO. This emphasis on the opportunities offered by a closer link forged between globalism (WTO) and regionalism was one of the key proposals in the 2023 IIASA paper on the possible venues for WTO reform[7].
The benefits of working more closely with regional arrangements on WTO reform reside not only in a potentially greater role that the WTO can play in directing the forces of economic integration towards the “open regionalism” paradigm. With regional economic integration accounting for a rising share of trade liberalization, regional arrangements could also represent an important track in breaking gridlocks in negotiations and creating additional lines for economic diplomacy to conclude trade accords.
As argued in the IIASA paper as well as BRICS+ Analytics earlier publications, one of the possible venues in bringing regionalism and globalism closer would be the creation of a platform for regional integration arrangements as an engagement group within the G20. The WTO could have a coordinating role in this forum, thus expanding its mandate and connectivity with the G20. At this stage, there is still no horizontal platform for regional integration arrangements in the world economy, despite the rising prominence of these integration blocs in global trade [8].
Without such communication lines and due involvement of RTAs in the WTO reform discussions, the impulses for change remain weak. Against the backdrop of rampant protectionism and the rising role of regional arrangements, the expert circles are increasingly asking the question of whether the future of world trade is tied with regionalism[9]. For the WTO multilateralism to survive the current tide of geopolitical and protectionist shocks, more work needs to be focussed on creating mechanisms for regionalism to be integrated into the global institutions such as the WTO, IMF and the World Bank.
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-03-31/wto-and-ministerial-conference-in-cameroon
[2] https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news26_e/mc14_30mar26_354_e.htm
[3] https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news26_e/mc14_30mar26_354_e.htm
[4] https://www.wto.org/
[5] https://brics-plus-analytics.org/platforms-for-small-economies-exploring-the-landscape/
[6] https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2026/was-wto-ministerial-meeting-yaounde-complete-failure
[7] https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/19120/1/WTO%20policy%20paper.pdf
[8] https://brics-plus-analytics.org/reforming-the-wto-what-role-for-the-global-south/
[9] https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2026/are-regional-pacts-future-world-trade
Yaroslav Lissovolik, Founder, BRICS+ Analytics
Image by WTO via www.wto.org