Philippines Chairs Informal Group of Developing Countries in Preparation for WTO 14th Ministerial Conference in 2026

GENEVA 25 July 2025 — The Philippines, through the Philippine Mission to the World Trade Organization in Geneva headed by Ambassador Manuel A.J. Teehankee, chaired the third Informal Group of Developing Countries (IGDC) meeting held on 18 July 2025 at the World Trade Organization Headquarters in Geneva. The July IGDC meeting served as a traditional preparatory meeting for the IGDC members in advance of the quarterly General Council meeting of 22-23 July 2025. The IGDC Agenda also affords IGDC Members an opportunity to exchange views and updates on recent trade developments including preparations for the WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14), scheduled on 26 to 29 March 2026 in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

The Informal Group of Developing Countries (IGDC), as the name indicates, is an informal grouping of developing countries, and is not an official WTO body. It aims to discuss issues of interest to these members and to the extent possible coordinate positions in the various WTO bodies at a very general level. The group’s deliberations foster dialogue towards enhanced understanding of the development implications of WTO issues. The group is composed of developing country WTO Members and Observers. 

In this vein, the IGDC was also able to review the Development Package outcome delivered at the Thirteenth Ministerial Conference (MC13), which it had discussed at its meeting of May 2024, as well as to review the WTO General Council Retreats held since MC13, i.e. on 8 July 2025 on WTO Decision-Making and Way Forward, 5-6 May 2025 on Sustainable Agriculture in the Multilateral Trading System, and 16 January 2025 on Trade as a Tool for Development and Way Forward.

The Chair also provided updates on the ongoing WTO Reform Consultations led by former Chair of the General Council, Ambassador Petter Ølberg of Norway, specifically under the three tracks of governance, fairness, and emergent issues.

Ambassador Ali Hussain of Pakistan, who is also the Chair of the Committee on Agriculture-Special Session, posed questions on the role of the WTO in keeping the organization’s mandate of promoting a multilateral trading system amidst the rise of unilateralism and protectionism.

Ambassador Colin Murdoch of Antigua and Barbuda, who serves as the Coordinator for GRULAC, shared his insights that the MC14 should focus on reform, which can open doors to better processes to arriving at results at the WTO, while aiming for pragmatic and feasible results.

The meeting also welcomed updates from Ambassador Gustavo Lunazzi of Argentina, who is also the Chair of the Committee of Trade in Goods (CTG), who spoke on behalf of Mercosur, on the recently concluded comprehensive Free Trade Agreement between the European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay).

Ambassador Lunazzi highlighted that this new trade deal represented a vote of confidence and positive news for the multilateral trading system and that the landmark agreement, which is now undergoing legal scrubbing, is comprehensive in nature: covering trade in goods and services, investment, intellectual property rights, government procurement, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, competition, trade and sustainable development, and legal and horizontal issues, including dispute settlement. END

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