Preserving and improving multilateralism as a key tool to foster international collaboration and expand women’s participation in international trade must be a key focus of the global community.
That was the message from former German Chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel, when she delivered the seventh lecture in the Presidential Lecture Series at the WTO’s headquarters in Geneva on the eve of International Women’s Day last Friday.
Titled "Empowering Women through Multilateral Cooperation", her presentation highlighted the importance of establishing rules and standards to ensure women had equal access to economic opportunities. She underscored that supply chain diversification presented unique opportunities for women, particularly in emerging and developing economies.
Beyond women's rights, she emphasised the broader significance of multilateralism in achieving economic stability. Acknowledging the current challenges of multilateral cooperation, she said it was important to maintain strong convictions about what international cooperation had achieved in recent decades in terms of economic growth and poverty reduction around the world.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala also reflected on the "grave challenges" the international economic order was currently confronting.
She emphasised that despite all its shortcomings the system had for 80 years enabled unprecedented prosperity and poverty reduction. "Conflict and climate change are exacting a growing human toll. Progress in economic development and gender equality is stalling. Rising economic uncertainty is diminishing people's prospects - nowhere more so than in the poorest countries," she said.
She mentioned her recent trip to Washington DC, where she met with the Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and the United States Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer.
Despite criticisms of the WTO in a recently released report, the US had signalled its intent to remain engaged in the organisation, she said. “This suggests there is an opportunity to address their concerns through existing WTO mechanisms, reinforcing the importance of continued dialogue and cooperation within the organisation,” she added.
