Africa-Press – Angola. A delegation from Angola, led by the Minister of Industry and Commerce Rui Miguéns de Oliveira, is taking part in the 14th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (MC14), which began on Thursday in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon.
According to a note from the Institutional Communication and Press Services in Geneva sent Friday to ANGOP, in his opening statement, the Angolan minister emphasized the importance of unity and collaboration among member countries in the context of the WTO Reform process.
He emphasized the importance of consensus as the basis for decision-making within the organization and highlighted the need to fulfill the development and implementation of relevant instruments, such as the Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT).
Angola reaffirmed the urgent need to reform the Agreement on Agriculture, updating it to reflect the food security, production, trade and agro-industrial needs of developing countries.
Rui Miguéns also advocated an end to the digital divide, which pushes developing countries further away from the growing benefits of digital commerce and artificial intelligence.
Angola will increase its coordination of G90 (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) proposals concerning sanitary measures, as well as technical barriers to trade.
Another objective is to ensure that trade-related climate measures do not restrict market access for LDCs (least developed countries), which are the countries least responsible for the anthropogenic dimension of climate change.
Throughout the MC14 sessions, Angola will participate in meetings with the groups with which it has been working, coordinating positions at the WTO with the LDC Group, the African Group, and the ACP Group.
Over the next four days, the Angolan delegation will participate in 28 sessions, including ministerial plenary sessions, specialized thematic meetings and negotiations on the key issues of this conference, such as WTO reform, development priorities, and trade in agricultural products, services and digital products, as well as providing technical support to developing countries.
The delegation will also hold bilateral meetings with representatives from France, Hungary, Mozambique and Oman.
