Page 372 - MOE ENGLISH PR REPORT - FEBRUARY 2024

2/28/24, 10:19 AM We're going to reach a deal that is balanced: Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the UAE - Th…

The developing and the least developed countries e pect the process to remain transparent and that it's not
hijacked by the developed nations. hat kind of e ort do you think will be required from the UAE?

When it comes to agenda, brie ngs and discussions, we are going to be very inclusive in the way that we're going to r
the negotiations and the meetings around the MC13.

It has been a long journey since MC12, when member states were pushing the agenda on negotiation forward, but i
time now for the ministers to get together and start working on a bigger picture, where frank and transparent discus

are going to be there. And the responsibility of transparency and inclusion are going to be the responsibility of every
not only the chair and the host of the conference, because at the end of the day, whatever we're going to agree upon,
going to a ect everyone, and we have to make sure that we all get together.

hich issues could require your intervention?
I cannot dictate the agenda... As the Chair, I'll be supporting all negotiations as and where appropriate, and close
partnership with the facilitators, director general and our colleagues. As with previous ministerials, there are a rang

issues heading to the conference where members retain di erent views that need to be negotiated for sure. The com
ones that everyone knows-- reforming WTO and sorting out the dispute settlement mechanism, expansion of TRIPS
COVID-19 waiver, the ongoing discussion on the second phase of sheries, ecommerce moratorium--which have bee
big debate since MC12, and agriculture and food security, which is a critical topic for India, in particular, and many o
countries. And we don't want to forget the wording of the ministerial declaration. So I'll be working across all these

discussions and ensure that these are more creative, constructive and transparent between the members.

MC13 is happening at a time when there has been a rise in bilateral and regional trade agreements. Can it re-
energise the global trade framework?
Absolutely. There's no trade deal that's going to be negotiated or concluded among di erent parties without going ba

the principles of multilateralism. The geopolitics and global situation is forcing countries to rebuild their own allian
and new partnerships are happening around the world. And we saw that clearly, the spikes in the numbers in 2020
2021. Coming back to the MC13 and WTO work, we're very con dent that this is going to continue the momentum.

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