South Centre Informal Note, 2 November 2025
WTO Reform: Assessment of the Facilitator’s Communication and Process Ahead of the 4 November 2025 Plenary
An Informal Note Reviewing the Reform Tracks and Process in Advance of the 4 November Plenary, 2 November 2025
By Vahini Naidu, Trade for Development Programme, South Centre
This note provides an analytical assessment of the Facilitator’s Communication and process ahead of the WTO reform plenary held on 4 November 2025. It highlights the growing procedural opacity surrounding the reform process, characterised by informal, facilitator-led configurations that lack clear mandates, participation criteria, or official records of discussions. These methods have blurred the lines between Member-driven deliberation and Secretariat-managed processes, creating uncertainty over accountability, legitimacy and inclusiveness.
Substantively, the Facilitator’s synthesis elevates certain reform tracks, notably decision-making and level playing field, as forward-looking agendas, while confining the Development and S&DT track to a diagnostic or exploratory stage. This imbalance risks entrenching asymmetries rather than addressing them. By conflating S&DT with the broader development mandate, the Communication effectively narrows the systemic development agenda of the Marrakesh Agreement to a limited discussion of differentiation and eligibility.
Read together, the procedural and substantive dynamics reveal a process that is fragmented, imbalanced and at risk of being shaped by informal interpretations rather than by Member-driven decisions. The note calls for restoring transparency, reaffirming the primacy of consensus and re-centring development as the organising principle of WTO reform.
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This article was tagged: Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM), Group of Twenty (G-20), Marrakesh Agreement, Special and Differential Treatment, World Trade Organization (WTO), WTO Reform
