On June 17, 2022, the 12th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC12) ended (lasted 1 day longer than originally planned), successfully exceeding expectations. At the end of the session, the WTO Ministers adopted a number of important Declarations and Decisions.

On June 17, 2022, the 12th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC12) ended (lasted 1 day longer than originally planned), successfully exceeding expectations. At the end of the session, the WTO Ministers approved a number of important Declarations and Decisions as follows:

• Joint Statement of the Conference: The Declaration for the first time demonstrated consensus at the ministerial level on WTO Reform, tasking the General Assembly and WTO bodies to develop the content of WTO reform. The statement also addressed the issue of the resumption of the WTO Appellate Body and the full functioning of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism by 2024.
• Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies: This is the only multilateral negotiation result of the WTO after nearly 10 years (since the end of the Trade Facilitation Agreement negotiation in 2013) and the result of more than 2 years. this decade of content negotiations. The Agreement is of great significance, contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals on Sustainable Development.
• Ministerial Decision on the exemption from the application of export bans or restrictions on food purchases of the World Food Program: Vietnam is one of the first Members to co-sponsor and promote push this initiative for adoption at the Ministerial Conference.
• Ministerial Statement on Responding to Phytosanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Challenges: Vietnam was one of the first Members to co-sponsor and promote this initiative to be adopted at the MC12.
• Ministerial Statement on Emergency Response to Food Insecurity: Vietnam has coordinated views with countries of the Group of Agricultural Exporting Countries (Cairns Group), opinions of Vietnam recognized by the President (Australia) and reflected in the Conference documents.

Some other documents were also discussed and agreed at MC12, for example:

• Ministerial declaration on Covid-19 pandemic response and readiness for future pandemics.
• Ministerial decision on intellectual property rights exemption for public health.
• Ministerial decision on extending the working program on e-commerce and maintaining the practice of not levying import and export tax on electronic transactions.
• Two decisions at the WTO General Assembly level on small economies and maintained the practice of not handling complaints about non-violations or situations in the TRIPS Agreement.

All the above documents are posted on the official website of the WTO at the following address:
https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news22_e/mc12_17jun22_e.htm 

The MC12 Conference was held in Geneva, Switzerland from June 12 to 15, 2022. Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien led the Vietnamese delegation to attend MC12. The delegation included representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The MC12 conference took place in the context that countries have been facing many great challenges such as handling the consequences of the Covid-19 epidemic and recovering the economy and trade after the pandemic; International geopolitical tensions lead to serious effects on food security and the world economy.