Submitted by the WTO's Group of Small, Vulnerable Economies (SVEs), the draft decision calls for WTO members to address the issue of integrating small economies into the multilateral trading system by looking into issues such as the impact of non-tariff measures on trade costs, the link between trade policies and climate change adaptation, global supply chains, e-commerce and digital ecosystems.

MC13 will take place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from 26 to 29 February 2024.

The draft decision also calls on the Dedicated Session on Small Economies to continue monitoring the progress of the small economies' proposals in WTO bodies and negotiating groups and to assess the effectiveness of measures aimed at better integrating SVEs into global trade.

In addition, the decision requests ministers to take note of the work undertaken to date in the Work Programme on Small Economies. The latest version of a WTO Secretariat compilation paper regarding this work is available here.

Background

A Decision on Small Economies was adopted by trade ministers at the 12th Ministerial Conference held in Geneva in 2022. The objective of the Work Programme on Small Economies is “to frame responses to the trade-related issues for the fuller integration of SVEs into the multilateral trading system”. More information on the Work Programme on Small Economies can be found here.

The draft decision can be found here.