Equitable global trade offers all countries the opportunity to engage their populations, especially young people and women, through the creation of employment, the creation of other income generating activities, and the development of value chains and value-added employment, President Sall told the audience.  In contrast, unequal trade excludes and marginalizes the majority of countries and impoverishes them, contributing to growing problems such as surging migration.

“When practices are sound, transparent, fair and equitable, everyone has a place, and the international trading system and the Organization that embodies it can fulfil their primary purpose: to promote economic and trade ties, contribute to development and foster peaceful relations between nations,” he declared.

President Sall emphasized that for global trade to be sustainable, “everyone must benefit. Trade cannot be sustainable if those who have more always gain more and those who have less always lose more.”

Trade will only be sustainable when the free circulation of persons, goods and services is properly regulated, he said. It cannot be sustainable when it is distorted by the laws of the strongest, nor can it be sustainable when trade wars and domestic measures that have extraterritorial effects cause harm to third parties, he added.

Likewise, trade cannot be sustainable when abusive agricultural subsidies violate fair competition laws to the detriment of millions of small-scale producers, nor can it be sustainable when developed countries, the principal polluters, continue to use coal while prohibiting funding for others to exploit less-polluting natural gas and other fossil fuels, he continued.

President Sall said Senegal welcomes the work at the WTO on institutional reforms which seek to improve the efficacy and the functioning of its bodies and underlined the importance of having a dispute settlement system that is fully operational, transparent and accessible to all members.

He also welcomed the adoption by WTO members of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies at the 12th Ministerial Conference in June 2022, which he described as a “huge step forward” in favour of ocean sustainability. He said Senegal remains fully committed to the second phase of negotiations on subsidy disciplines related to overcapacity and overfishing.

In her welcoming remarks, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that despite the challenges facing the world today, “viable pathways are emerging towards robust and resilient growth globally, and in Africa in particular.”

“Finding them, however, will require action, starting right here at the WTO,” she said.

A recording of the event can be viewed here.

About the WTO's Presidential Lecture Series

The WTO's Presidential Lecture Series provides a platform for distinguished speakers from around the world to deliver lectures on various aspects of multilateral cooperation and global governance. Several events are held each year.

More information on the lecture series is available here.