The global trading system is experiencing the “worst disruptions in the past 80 years”, World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala warned as the WTO ministerial conference opened Thursday.

“The world order and the multilateral system we use to know has irrevocably changed,” she said, adding: “We cannot deny the scale of the problems confronting the world today.”

The Organization’s 166 members appear deeply divided as trade ministers gather in the Cameroonian capital for the WTO’s top conference, amid global economic turmoil linked to the Middle East war.

Over four days in Yaounde, WTO members will try to revitalise an institution weakened by geopolitical tensions, stalled negotiations, and rising protectionism — against the backdrop of the war in the Middle East, which poses a serious threat to international trade.

“The scale of the problems confronting the world today, even before the conflict in the Gulf, destabilised trade in energy, fertiliser and food,” Okonjo-Iweala said.

“National governments and international institutions alike have been struggling to navigate rising geopolitical tensions, intensifying climate pressures, and rapid technological change.

“Accompanying these shifts has been an increasingly loud questioning of multilateralism.”

Okonjo-Iweala said these disruptions were just one symptom of broader upheavals shaking the international order created after World War II to prevent a repeat of the disasters of the first half of the 20th century.

“It feels appropriate that at the moment when the world is in turmoil with conflict in the Middle East, Sudan, Ukraine, and elsewhere, at this time of great disruption and uncertainty, we have gathered in Africa to discuss the road ahead for the global trading system,” she said.

“Africa is the continent of the future.”

WTO ministerial conferences are typically held every two years. This is the second to be held in Africa, after Nairobi in 2015. (AFP)

Update news