Statement of Canada – Trade Negotiations Committee

April 19, 2023

Madame Director General, fellow delegates, I value your time. Too often we have not used meetings of the Trade Negotiations Committee and Heads of Delegation meetings (TNC/HODs) effectively. Too often we simply repeat what we have said in previous meetings. Too often we fail to engage in any real dialogue. Today, I will not reiterate Canada’s positions and Canada’s priorities for MC13 as these are well known and have not changed since we last met. Instead, I will respond to the agenda:

First, on the transformation exercise, we should begin with the acknowledgement that the WTO is unusual among international organizations as the steward of binding agreements and as a facilitator for negotiation and deliberation. The Secretariat does good work in this regard and is a repository of the deepest expertise. So long as this invaluable role for the Secretariat is maintained and stays its core mandate, Canada has no interest in trying to dictate how the Secretariat is organized and run. That is your business and your mandate, DG. In this same vein, the future shape and priorities of the WTO itself should be kept separate and remain governed by the Marrakech Agreement, by the outcomes of ministerial conferences, when appropriate, and by the day-to-day decisions of Members.

Second, Canada welcomes your creation of advisory groups. The more diverse the voices heard by all of us, the better we will be equipped to undertake initiatives that are truly useful. We support more engagement with outside actors of all kinds across all our work – always to inform and never to change the intergovernmental character of this organization, of course.

Third, we should ensure that MC13 is a step forward for the rules-based trading system and not a step back, and we should try to deliver on important issues, including having a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all Members by 2024.

Canada is keeping an open mind and is committed to listening to and engaging with others on all issues. Canada also lends its voice to calls to de-dramatize the event. Let’s not use this meeting to seek to force decisions where we are not ready. It is important that we design this Ministerial Conference to ensure enough space to allow conversations at all times, that small group discussions can develop into larger group discussions and then to the plenary. Furthermore, linking unrelated issues and engaging in brinkmanship is not the right way – it leads to decisions being forced through without all of us having the time to properly brief our ministers and ensure a full understanding of the consequences. A successful MC13 will be one where all Members feel they have contributed to the process and are comfortable with the outcome, understanding that in any negotiation, no one party gets everything they want and everyone needs to give a little to gain something for the collective and individual good.

Finally, let me express an interest in significantly changing how we use this meeting, the TNC/HODs, including how it is structured and what we discuss. I was glad to hear the openness of the DG on this, and Canada will indeed be putting forward substantive suggestions shortly.