During her stay in this nation, Okonjo-Iweala seeks to promote the WTO agenda on sustainable development, inclusion of the vulnerable population and women in world trade.

In addition, she will highlight the role of micro, small and medium-sized companies, and identify common work issues with the Colombian Government’s agenda.

During today’s meeting, the minister reviewed the strategy that in terms of foreign trade and the search for balance in its international trade relations is promoted by the Government of President Gustavo Petro.

Umaña reiterated that Colombia is a country that promotes multilateralism and, in this sense, expressed the country’s backing and support for the efforts promoted by the organization’s general director.

She also pointed out that it is necessary to give globalization a human face, an approach with which the director expressed her agreement.

Similarly, the minister expressed his concerns on issues such as the reactivation of the WTO dispute settlement system, whose paralysis has benefited only a few countries.

He raised the need to stop the enormous subsidies that developed countries grant to their agricultural, industrial and service sectors, affecting trade in developing countries.

Likewise, he expressed the concern that the government has regarding the so-called Green Pact, of the European Union, which will affect the export of agricultural goods from developing countries, including Colombia, and that more than a pact, seems like an imposition.

It was a very positive, cordial and friendly meeting, in which there was harmony between the minister and the director on the different topics discussed, said the Ministry’s press team.

Among the issues discussed at the meeting was also the Agreement that prohibits harmful subsidies to marine fishing, approved at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in June last year.

The director of the WTO highlighted that “it was a fantastic achievement and Colombia played a very positive role.”

This Agreement is already being processed in the Congress of the Republic of Colombia, where it is undergoing its third debate, in the approval process.

It is one of the matters of great interest to the director of the Multilateral Organization, as this is the first WTO Agreement that has environmental sustainability as a fundamental pillar.

This official visit by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the first woman to lead the WTO, takes place after the then Director General, Roberto Azevedo, visited the country in 2016.

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