Head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has urged member states to diversify trade and welcomed free trade as well as regional trade agreements.
She made the call at the first Biennial Summit for a Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient Global Economy at the UN headquarters in New York, hosted by Secretary-General António Guterres on the sidelines of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly.
“While U.S. tariff actions have had a major impact, creating an unstable and uncertain equilibrium in global trade, the core of the trading system remains stable,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
She highlighted what she described as the “remarkable resilience” of the trading system, noting that digitally delivered services expanded by nearly 10 per cent last year to almost $5 trillion, while South-South cooperation also continues to grow.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who will lead this year’s G20 meeting, stressed the urgency of closing the $4 trillion financing gap needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He called for “faster” and “fairer” debt relief and restructuring, more accessible financing, and global tax reforms to curb illicit flows.
“We need confidence that commitments that are made will be honoured and that global rules will be shaped by all members and not just a few,” Ramaphosa said.
Guterres described the Biennial Summit as “not just another meeting” but the first of its kind, adding that “this is networked, inclusive multilateralism in practice.”
He argued for reform of post-war financial systems, citing “extremely scarce” public resources compared with global needs, and urged stronger mobilisation of private investment to support development.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva cautioned that global public debt is on track to reach about 100 per cent of GDP by the end of the decade. She warned this could deprive many countries of the fiscal space needed to absorb future shocks.
She urged governments to place debt on a sustainable path and implement structural reforms to attract private capital. “Where regulation is outdated, you don’t need it, take it out. Where access to finance is constrained, make it easy,” she said.
(NAN)