An Analytical Note on the Director-General’s Revised Road to Yaoundé MC14 Working Draft (JOB/TNC/127/Rev.2/Add.1/Rev.1), 11 February 2026
By Vahini Naidu
This note examines the Revised Road to Yaoundé for the Fourteenth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) and the implications of its programme, sequencing, and institutional management. It situates the revised agenda within current dynamics in Geneva and assesses how process choices shape ministerial engagement, priority-setting, and the handling of long-standing development mandates. Drawing on lessons from earlier Ministerial Conferences, the note highlights the risks that compressed formats, limited transparency, and facilitator-driven structures pose for collective ownership and trust. It argues that the credibility of MC14 will depend on whether Members perceive the process as inclusive and balanced, and whether the Ministerial provides a clear and legitimate pathway for shaping the WTO’s future direction. The note also includes recommendations.
WTO Reform: Mapping Submissions and the Facilitator’s Draft Work Plan
An Analytical Note on Member Positions Across the Facilitator’s Reform Tracks, 8 February 2026
By Vahini Naidu
This paper maps seven WTO submissions and examines them in light of outputs emerging from the WTO reform process, including the Reform Facilitator’s Draft Ministerial Decision and Flexible Post-MC14 Work Plan. Using comparative tables, it reviews Member positions across core reform elements, including overall reform vision, scope and sequencing; decision-making, consensus and governance; plurilaterals and Annex 4; development and Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT); agriculture, industrial policy and level-playing-field issues; dispute settlement; and Secretariat and institutional questions. The paper also distils key observations on the Reform Facilitator’s Draft Ministerial Statement and Work Plan, examining how their structure and thematic emphasis align with different Member positions. It notes the relative prominence of EU and US framings across several reform tracks, alongside areas where longstanding developing country concerns, including agriculture, consensus-based decision-making, and treaty-based S&DT, are less explicitly reflected.
WTO Reform: Institutional Authority and the Boundaries of the Facilitator-led Process
AnAnalytical Note on the WTO Reform Facilitator-led Process and Work Plan, 8 February 2026
By Vahini Naidu
This analytical note examines the WTO reform process reflected in the Draft Ministerial Statement and the proposed Post MC14 Work Plan dated 3 February 2026. It assesses whether the current process provides a sound basis for transmitting any reform outcome to Ministers at MC14. The note identifies procedural, institutional, and substantive concerns arising from the increasing reliance on facilitation led, non-consensual materials, limited anchoring in prior Ministerial mandates, and drafting choices that risk normalising a particular framing of reform in the absence of Member convergence. It highlights sequencing problems, the narrowing of the development agenda through its conflation with special and differential treatment, the premature elevation of plurilateral integration, and the marginal treatment of dispute settlement. These concerns suggest that the proposed Work Plan risks constraining Member-driven deliberation and weakening institutional balance. The note concludes that the Work Plan should not be treated as a basis for any reform outcome to be transmitted to Ministers at this stage.
WTO Reform: Reflections on Reform Week and Suggested Approaches for Breakout Groups
A Note Reviewing the Process and Reform Tracks in Advance of WTO Reform Week, 5 December 2025
By Vahini Naidu, Trade for Development Programme, South Centre
This note provides an assessment of the papers circulated by the WTO Reform Facilitator for Reform Week and highlights the structural gaps that limit their balance and practical value to move forward these discussions in a manner that takes the demands and interests of developing and least developed country Members into account. The current drafts reflect a narrow interpretation of the consultations, introduce elements that were not examined collectively and overlook mandated issues that continue to shape the functioning of the system. This note sets out the adjustments that Members may wish to propose to restore a development centred framing, make a clear distinction between descriptive reflections and new reform ideas, and ensure that any work proceeds in line with Ministerial instructions for a member driven, transparent and inclusive process. The aim is to place the discussion on a footing that reflects the full range of Member views and respects the mandates already agreed.
South Centre Statement submitted to Session One: Inclusive and sustainable economic growth leaving no one behind: Building our economies; the role of trade; financing for development and thedebt burden
South Centre Executive Director, Dr. Carlos Correa, spoke at the G20 Leaders’ Summit, congratulating South Africa’s successful G20 Presidency and stressing that any reform of the WTO should be development oriented & preserve S&DT.
Promoting a Symbiotic Relationship Between Trade Policy and Climate Action
By Vahini Naidu
This paper is based on remarks delivered in the lead up to COP30. It outlines how African countries are working to align trade, climate action, and development priorities through early transparency on climate-related trade measures, technology transfer, and the protection of policy space for green industrialisation. It also highlights the growing focus on critical minerals, the rise of unilateral climate-related trade measures, and the need to bring scattered initiatives into a coherent multilateral framework that supports fair and sustainable outcomes.
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.
Reeling Towards Termination: Assessing the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies and the Future of Fisheries Disciplines
By Vahini Naidu
The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS, “Fish 1”) entered into force on 15 September 2025, introducing new disciplines on subsidies linked to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, overfished stocks, and certain high seas activities. While celebrated as a landmark achievement, the Agreement is partial in scope, omitting the broader category of capacity-enhancing subsidies that drive overcapacity and fish stock depletion. Its obligations rely on national determinations and extensive notifications that may prove burdensome for developing Members while allowing major subsidisers to retain flexibility. The unprecedented termination clause in Article 12 ties the Agreement’s survival to the adoption of additional “comprehensive disciplines,” underscoring both the fragility of the current outcome and the need for continued negotiations. The experience of Fish 1 reveals significant lessons for the proposed WTO reform, including the importance of reviewable and time-bound rules, the risks of imbalanced sustainability provisions, and the institutional weaknesses of restricted negotiating processes.
WTO Reform: Rewriting Trade History – The United States as Architect and Beneficiary of the Multilateral Trading System
A Working Paper on Elements of WTO Reform, 1 September 2025
By Vahini Naidu, Trade for Development Programme, South Centre
This paper examines the revisionist trade narrative advanced by the United States, which portrays multilateral rules as disadvantageous and seeks to justify unilateral tariffs and coercive bilateral arrangements. It demonstrates that the principles of non-discrimination and reciprocity pre-date Bretton Woods and were embedded in the multilateral system through U.S. initiatives from the 1930s through the creation of GATT in 1947. Far from being disadvantaged, the U.S. has consistently shaped and benefitted from the system, including through the Uruguay Round’s expansion of enforceable rules on services, intellectual property, and investment. The analysis shows that the shift toward what has been termed the “Turnberry system” risks fragmenting global markets, eroding the MFN principle, and deepening structural asymmetries that leave developing countries more vulnerable to exclusion. By correcting historical records, the paper underscores the importance of defending multilateral guarantees of equal treatment while building institutional capacity and strategic coordination to better safeguard development priorities in an increasingly contested global order.
WTO Reform: Structuring a Positive Agenda for Developing Countries
A Working Document on Structuring Reform Around Legal Principles and Development Priorities, 15 July 2025
By Vahini Naidu, Trade for Development Programme, South Centre
This Working Document outlines a structured contribution to the WTO reform process from a legal and developmental perspective. It organises the wide range of reform issues into seven categories, based on their legal character, institutional handling, and the procedural steps required for meaningful resolution. The aim is to support a more coherent and inclusive reform process by offering a logical framework grounded in the Marrakesh Agreement and reflective of the WTO’s foundational principles. It is intended to assist Members in navigating reform discussions in a manner that is principled, transparent, and responsive to the priorities of developing countries.
WTO Reform: Framing Challenges in the Facilitator-led Process and Strategic Considerations for Developing Countries
By Vahini Naidu, Trade for Development Programme, South Centre
This Informal Note was prepared to inform developing country participation in the next round of Facilitator-led consultations on WTO reform. It provides a critical reflection on the three-track framework proposed by the Facilitator, namely Governance, Fairness and Future, and raises concerns about the framing, legal coherence, and process legitimacy of the emerging reform agenda. The note highlights the risks of implicitly reshaping negotiating priorities through informal structuring, particularly in ways that may disadvantage developing countries or dilute existing legal mandates. It offers strategic considerations and suggested responses to the three guiding questions posed by the Facilitator, underscoring the need to reaffirm treaty-embedded rights such as Special and Differential Treatment, preserve institutional integrity, and ensure that any reform remains firmly anchored in multilateral principles, Member-driven processes, and the development dimension. A separate working document proposing a structured positive agenda for developing countries will follow to complement this analysis.
