The Minister of Commerce and Industry Minister, Mawine Guetta Diggs, has reaffirmed her country’s commitment to the World Trade Organization’s Doha Declaration and strong support for the current African group’s position for TRIPS Waiver on health-related products, including vaccines.
The Commerce Minister also called on her colleagues to demonstrate what she described as the true purpose of the work they were called to do through consensus building, and to deliver a win for the equitable health of the world.
Diggs made the call this week in Geneva, Switzerland, when she chaired the G7+ WTO Accessions Group – 2nd Ministerial Meeting on the margins of the conference.
She outlined the core values of the group, aimed at forging pathways out of fragility and achieving resilience.
Minister Diggs named advocacy for the integration of fragile and conflict-affected states (FCS) into the multilateral trading systems, through alignment with WTO rules and the domestication of WTO-related reforms as a catalyst to transition countries from fragility to peace and sustainable development as the group’s major objective.
She also underscored the need for continuous cooperation among member-states and the secretariat in supporting acceding countries like Ethiopia, Comoros, Sudan, Somalia, South Sudan, and Timor Leste to meet their objective of integrating in trade multilateralism.
She acknowledged the WTO Accession Division’s dedication to advancing the negotiations of the above countries in spite of the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Also addressing the forum, the Ambassador of Timor-Leste, JoquinKamrog, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, and Chair of the g7+ Group, Dr. Francis Kaika, and the Director of the WTO Accession Division, Maika Oshikawa, on behalf of the Deputy Director-General, Xianhchen Zhang, reaffirmed the key role of the group to serve as a platform for facilitating the integration of fragile states and leading the development of the WTO Trade for Peace Program for Fragile and Conflict-affected states.
Minister Diggs is accompanied by the Charge d’Affaires (en pied), Liberia Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office and Multiple International Organizations, Paul W. Tate, Minister Counselor/Public Affairs to the European Union, Senve D. Tehmeh, the Second Secretary, Liberia Permanent Mission to Geneva, Abraham Kamara, the Chief of Office Staff to Minister Diggs, Esther Tolbert, and Tom Tombekai, Assistant Director for Price Analysis/ IP & Trade Policy Analyst, Ministry of the Commerce and Industry.