IPU : Yaoundé Session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO on 25 March

Yaoundé, (Cameroon):The Parliamentary Conference on the World Trade Organization (WTO) is a joint initiative of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the European Parliament, aimed at contributing to the work of the WTO and promoting prosperous and mutually beneficial international trade. The challenges associated with this trade are significant and growing, requiring an inclusive approach involving all stakeholders, particularly parliamentarians.

The Conference brings together legislators who, as members of standing and select committees in their respective parliaments, specialize in international trade and finance.

The Conference seeks to mobilize parliamentary action in support of the promotion of global trade as an engine of a flourishing and resilient economy.

Sessions of the Parliamentary Conference are held annually and in connection with WTO Ministerial Conferences.

In the lead-up to the Fourteenth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) – 26 to 29 March 2026 – a session of the Parliamentary Conference will take place on 25 March at the Headquarters of the Senate of Cameroon. It will give parliamentarians the opportunity to take stock of the progress made since MC13 and to consider actions to strengthen their involvement in promoting global trade following the outcome of MC14. Please see the draft agenda of this parliamentary meeting.

It will be preceded by the 56th session (in camera) of the Steering Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on 24 March.

Participation in the session is guided by the general principles set out in the Rules of Procedure (Article 2) of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO. The session is intended primarily for legislators who are directly involved in parliamentary activities dealing with international trade and development.

Tulia Ackson President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Roberta Metsola President of the European Parliament Aboubakary Abdoulaye Senior Vice-President of the Senate of Cameroon written an invitation letter on February in which they mentioned :

“Dear Madam President, Dear Mr. President,

As per long-standing practice, we are pleased to announce that the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the European Parliament, in close cooperation with the Parliament of Cameroon, will organize the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO on 25 March 2026 at the Headquarters of the Senate in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The Conference will take place in the margins of the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14, 26-29 March 2026) and will be preceded by a preparatory meeting of the PCWTO Steering Committee (closed session) on 24 March 2026.

Established in 2002, the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO is a joint initiative of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the European Parliament, which serves as a permanent mechanism for parliamentary oversight of the WTO and aims to bring a parliamentary dimension to the WTO, helping to enhance the transparency and accountability of the global trading system. Parliaments play a crucial role in the ratification of key WTO agreements and contribute to the establishment and implementation of strategic trade policies.

We are pleased to invite your Parliament to send a gender-balanced delegation of four members to this Parliamentary Conference. The Conference is intended for legislators who are involved in parliamentary activities dealing with international trade, finance and development. It will provide them with an opportunity to obtain first-hand information on progress made from MC13 to MC14, interact with government negotiators and WTO officials, exchange views and experiences with colleagues in other parliaments, and identify avenues for parliamentary action at national and international levels.

We enclose the provisional annotated agenda and a practical information note for the Conference. These are also available on the IPU and the Parliament of Cameroon’s respective websites. Please note that online registration for the Conference will be available through the IPU’s event webpage as of Thursday, 5 February 2026 and will remain open until 6 March 2026.

As a general recommendation, participants in the Parliamentary Conference are advised to travel to Yaoundé as members of official national delegations to the WTO Ministerial Conference. This will allow them to be automatically accredited to the Ministerial Conference and receive access badges for the Palais des Congrès, where MC14 will be taking place.

We very much hope that your Parliament will participate in the forthcoming Yaoundé session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO.”

Draft outcome document to be adopted on 25 March 2026

We, legislators gathered in Yaoundé for the Parliamentary Conference on the World Trade Organization (PCWTO), within the framework of the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14),

1. Reaffirm the fundamental importance of rules-based international trade as an engine for inclusive growth, job creation, poverty reduction and global economic stability, and emphasize the WTO’s central role in this regard;
2. Recognize that the global economic, geopolitical and technological environment has changed the multilateral trading system profoundly, placing an unprecedented strain on it, and highlight the urgent need to restore the relevance, credibility and effectiveness of the WTO;
3. Recognize also that currently 72% of global trade is still conducted under rules relating to the most-favoured-nation principle, which remains key in the global trading system;
4. Emphasize that MC14 is first and foremost a strategic and systemic orientation conference called upon to provide clear political leadership and structural mandates for future WTO action in a context where inaction would further erode confidence in the multilateral trading system;
5. Affirm that comprehensive reform of the WTO must be the central priority of MC14 and the post-MC14 work programme, to enable the Organization to restore trust in the system, ensure its continued relevance and respond effectively to the challenges of the twenty-first century;
6. Support balanced and inclusive reform covering all WTO functions, including:

• governance, transparency and decision-making processes, • development and special and differential treatment (SDT), • issues related to fairness and to ensuring a level playing field, • the WTO’s capacity to address contemporary trade challenges;

1. Appreciate that the WTO has become a truly global organization with 166 Members, and call upon its members to reflect on a decision-making process that would not block the WTO’s work;
2. Recognize the need to reflect on conditions that would render easier the integration of plurilateral agreements in the multilateral architecture of the WTO, and encourage the continuation of inclusive, transparent and open-ended dialogue on plurilateral initiatives, in accordance with the multilateral framework of the WTO; –
3. Recognize also that the subsidy rules have not been able to constrain distortive State interventions, resulting in trade tensions among WTO Members, the weakening of the rules-based order and in costly subsidy races, in particular for developing countries, and encourage the WTO Members to have an open and constructive dialogue to find lasting solutions;
4. Reaffirm that a fully functional, independent, binding and two-tier dispute settlement system is essential to the credibility and effectiveness of the WTO;
5. Therefore, call upon Ministers to: • engage in a targeted ministerial dialogue on the systemic challenges facing the multilateral trading system,

• approve a clear, credible and forward-looking work programme for post-MC14 reform,
• define milestones, deadlines and modalities for assessing progress,
• continue and intensify negotiations on dispute settlement reform after MC14, and to establish a road map with an indicative deadline for reaching a permanent solution;

1. Reaffirm that Aid for Trade is an essential enabling tool for developing countries to integrate more effectively into the multilateral trading system, diversify their economies and strengthen their resilience to global economic shocks;
2. Emphasize, in this regard, the need to strengthen development issues among the priorities of the WTO, ensuring that SDT is more effective, operational and tailored to the real needs of developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs);
3. Welcome the conclusion of the negotiations on the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement aimed at creating a fairer, more transparent, more efficient and more predictable environment to facilitate cross-border investment and the participation of developing countries in global investment flows; and welcomes also the support to that effect of 128 WTO Members (out of 166), including 91 developing economies (27 of which are LDCs);
4. Support, to this end, efforts to:

• improve the implementation of SDT provisions, among others by looking at the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), • strengthen technical assistance, capacity-building and Aid for Trade, • incorporate the IFD Agreement into the WTO rulebook under Annex 4: “Plurilateral Trade Agreements”,
• enhance coordination between the WTO and international organizations in support of development objectives;

1. Encourage enhanced support for African regional initiatives, including those aimed at promoting regional economic integration – namely, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), structural transformation and industrialization, export diversification, increased participation in regional and global value chains, trade facilitation, infrastructure connectivity and skills development;
2. Call for concrete outcomes at MC14 on transition measures for countries graduating from LDC status, to ensure a smooth, predictable and sustainable transition;
3. Underline the importance of multilateral and plurilateral rules on digital trade and the role of parliamentarians and the WTO in improving regulations to maintain free, inclusive, non-discriminatory, transparent, resilient, open and fair digital trade, while promoting interoperable digital systems that respect human rights and unleash the potential of digital trade;
4. Call upon the WTO Members to support and implement the Agreement on Electronic Commerce as a matter of priority; stress that the agreement sets the first global rules for digital trade, creating a fair, predictable and transparent framework that benefits consumers and businesses by facilitating cross-border transactions, reducing barriers, and promoting innovation and trust; emphasize that the agreement is designed to benefit developing countries and the LDCs as much as advanced economies; welcome the agreement’s capacity-building initiatives and programmes to support the efforts of developing countries and the LDCs to harness the opportunities offered by digital trade;
5. Encourage the WTO Members to:

• revitalize the Work Programme on Electronic Commerce,
• seek a sustainable, balanced and evidence-based, permanent solution to the question of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions while taking into account development considerations;

1. Emphasize the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve trade facilitation, enhance business productivity and competitiveness, and support innovation, economic inclusion and sustainable development, provided that its use is responsible, ethical, transparent and respectful of human rights;
2. Call upon, to this end, the WTO Members to: • strengthen dialogue and cooperation on the trade implications of AI, • share good regulatory practices and experiences, • examine, in the appropriate WTO forum, how existing trade rules apply to emerging technologies, without prejudging future normative outcomes;
3. Regret that it has not been possible to agree an outcome on agriculture; emphasize the importance of trade in regulating food stockholding, reducing trade-distorting domestic support and promoting a legislative framework to improve global food security, increase effectiveness in trade measures to promote self-dependency, sustainable agricultural practices and a reduction in food waste; and call upon Ministers to work towards agreeing an outcome on agriculture by MC15;
4. Welcome the entry into force of the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies in September 2025; urge all WTO Members that have not yet ratified the agreement – namely, the developing countries, to do so swiftly, as it offers them access to the related Fisheries Funding Mechanism; stress the crucial importance of also reaching an agreement on disciplines on fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing to avoid depleting marine biological resources and allow for their sustainable management, while respecting the need for SDT in line with Sustainable Development Goal 14.6;
5. Call upon the WTO Members to ensure that MC14 will provide political guidance on the other topics currently under discussion, that substantive negotiations will continue and that outcomes will be achieved after the Conference;
6. Reiterate the importance of parliamentary engagement and the inclusion of a parliamentary dimension in future multilateral cooperation on trade issues, considering the determining contribution of trade to the global economy;
7. Reiterate also our shared sense of responsibility to establish mechanisms for parliamentary oversight and involvement in trade negotiations and agreements, both upstream and downstream of the process, ensuring transparency and democratic accountability through monitoring and evaluation of the impact of such agreements on local communities;
8. Call for the parliamentary dimension of the WTO to be strengthened, in particular through: • increased participation of legislators in processes related to the Ministerial Conferences and the WTO reform, • institutional and political support for the PCWTO;
9. Express our conviction that MC14 must mark a decisive step towards the revitalization of the multilateral trading system, based on dialogue, cooperation and multilateralism;
10. Call upon the WTO Members to enhance the exchange with all stakeholders, including civil society, trade unions and business organizations, and to step up cooperation with other international organizations such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) and more broadly the United Nations system; appeal to national and world leaders to strengthen their communication at every level about the benefits of rules-based trade;
11. Commit to continuing our active contribution, as parliamentarians, to supporting and promoting a reformed, credible and inclusive WTO that meets citizen’s expectations;
12. Extend our warm thanks to the Cameroonian authorities, particularly the Parliament of Cameroon, for facilitating and ensuring the success of the 2026 PCWTO.