According to the OECS release on June 12 (CET), Justin Sun led the Grenada delegation to attend the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12). As the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Grenada to the WTO, Sun spoke during the conference on climate change, food security, SIDS (Small Island Developing States), e-commerce, and other topics.
In the conference, Sun stated that as a small island developing state(SIDS), Grenada relies heavily on a predictable, transparent, and efficient multilateral trading system (MTS) and that in recent years, Grenada has been focusing on developing digital economy and e-commerce through blockchain technologies to support the WTO’s Work Programme on E-Commerce.
Justin Sun also called for addressing the current COVID-19 vaccine inequity at the conference. He argued that WTO members must identify an IPR exemption agreement on an intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines.
The WTO MC12 was also delayed twice due to the impact of COVID-19, which was seen as the key issue of the conference.The WTO Ministerial Conference is normally convened every two years. Members participate as delegations, which consist of ministers in commerce and trade, agriculture and other departments related to trade, as well as WTO ambassadors.
According to WTO’s website, the Geneva Package, as the WTO MC 12 outcomes are being called, resulted in a series of key trade initiatives. The package adopted by WTO members includes Declaration on the Emergency Response to Food Insecurity; Decision on World Food Programme (WFP) Food Purchases Exemptions from Export Prohibitions orRestrictions;Declaration on the WTO Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Preparedness for Future Pandemics; Decision on the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) ; Decision on the E-commerce Moratorium and Work Programme and Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies .
