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14th Ministerial Conference of WTO

  • Host: Yaoundé, Cameroon, 26–30 March 2026.  (2nd MC in Africa)

  • Chaired by: Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, Cameroon's Minister of Trade.

  • The Indian delegation was led by Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry.'

Key Decisions Adopted at 14th Ministerial Conference

  •  Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD)

    • A proposal to incorporate the IFD Agreement into Annex 4 of the WTO Agreement failed to materialise despite support from 129 of 166 WTO member countries.

    • India opposed the incorporation of IFD as it may erode the WTO’s functional limits and consensus-based decision-making.

    • IFD is aimed at attracting foreign direct investment to drive growth, productivity gains, job creation, and integration into global supply chains, and is open to all WTO members to join. 

     

  • Fisheries Subsidies Negotiations:  The 2022 Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies entered into force.
    • The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies is the WTO's first multilateral agreement with environmental sustainability at its core. 
    • The agreement, however, excludes subsidies that lead to overfishing and excess capacity.
    • Member states committed to ongoing discussions regarding fisheries subsidies, aiming to resolve outstanding matters by the 15th Ministerial Conference.

  • E-Commerce Moratorium: Due to the lack of consensus, the e-commerce moratorium, in place since 1998, has expired for the first time in 26 years.

    • WTO members agreed in 1998 not to impose customs duties on electronic transmissions, which include:
      •  Digital goods such as e-books, software, music, and video games.

      • Services delivered electronically, such as streaming platforms.

    • The moratorium has been renewed biennially at successive Ministerial Conferences. Its expiry on March 31, 2026, allows countries to impose tariffs on digital trade.

  • Public Stockholding (PSH) programme

    • The MC13 ended with no decision on this issues 

      • The PSH programme is a policy tool under which the government procures crops like rice and wheat from farmers at a minimum support price (MSP), stores and distributes foodgrains to the poor. 

    • As part of a permanent solution, India has asked for measures like amendments to the formula to calculate the food subsidy cap.

    • Developing nations, including India, were asking for updating the external reference prices used to calculate market price support in public stockholding, which are currently based on 1986-88 reference prices.

  • TRIPS Safeguard: The safeguard against non-violation complaints under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement also lapsed.

  • Small Economies: Ministers agreed to improve integration of small economies into the global trading system.

  • Special & Differential Treatment (S&DT): Enhancing the implementation of S&DT provisions in: 

    • Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)

    • Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).

  • Appellate function of the WTO’s dispute settlement system: This issue has been postponed. 

  • Partenariat pour le Coton (PPC) initiative: a new phase of this initiative was launched for the cotton-to-textile value chain in Africa

 

WTO

  • Headquarters: Geneva, 

  • Member: 166 countries representing 98% of world trade.

  • Director-General Okonjo-Iweala

  • Created by: Uruguay Round negotiations (1986-94)

  • The Ministerial Conference is the highest decision-making body, empowered to negotiate and amend global trade rules.

    • Established under the Marrakesh Agreement.

    • It meets once every two years.

  • The WTO was established on January 1, 1995, by replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

  • Aim: to promote free trade, which is done through trade agreements that are discussed and signed by the member states.

  • Reports by WTO:

    • Global Trade Outlook and Statistics

    • World Trade Report.