GENEVA: The World Trade Organization is struggling to find an ambassador to lead negotiations on fixing its hobbled dispute system by the year-end, trade sources said. The commitment to continue such efforts in 2024 was one of the few concrete outcomes at the WTO Abu Dhabi meeting last month which has some minor successes but failed to deliver on major global deals.
The talks are aimed at agreeing reforms to the WTO’s top appeals court, known as the Appellate Body, which has been idle since 2019 due to US blockages of judge appointments. The lack of an Appellate Body has left dozens of trade disputes worth billions of dollars unresolved. But days before the Abu Dhabi meeting, the talks’ previous facilitator Marco Molina from Guatemala who has been widely praised for developing a new interest-based negotiating method was dismissed by his government.
The global trade watchdog had hoped to propose a replacement at its General Council meeting on Thursday but three ambassadors declined, trade sources said.
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