Russian Economy Minister Calls for Efforts to Preserve WTO
The shadow of a sculpture is reflected on the World Trade Organisation, WTO sign near the entrance of the headquarters, in Geneva (File)
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov on Thursday called for efforts to develop and preserve the World Trade Organization (WTO). «In our view, we certainly need to make efforts now to develop and preserve the World Trade Organization specifically as a trading system,» Reshetnikov told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 trade ministers’ meeting in the US. In a column for the US outlet Newsweek, Reshetnikov said that Russia hopes that dialogue within the G20 framework will help overcome the risks of world trade disintegrating and preserve the efficiency of the multilateral trading system, which is based on the WTO rules. The WTO has been stagnating since 2019 due to the paralysis of its dispute settlement system, blocked at the initiative of the United States, the Russian minister said. The absence of a functioning appellate body has effectively led to a deadlock in trade disputes between countries, he added. «Currently, disputes lack a final resolution because a party disagreeing with a first-instance ruling appeals, so to speak, into a void, to a body that does not exist. Consequently, all decisions remain in limbo,» the minister said, adding that the inoperability of mechanisms for enforcing rules undermines the organization’s entire architecture. Reshetnikov is taking part in the G20 trade ministers’ meeting in the US city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During the event, the parties plan to discuss the «weaponization» of food trade, the elimination of forced labor in supply chains, and the reduction of excess capacity and production.
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