Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has warned that the global trading system is undergoing its most severe disruptions in the past 80 years.
Speaking on Thursday, 26 March 2026, at the opening of the WTO ministerial conference in Yaoundé, she said the global order and multilateral system have fundamentally changed.
“The world order and the multilateral system we used to know has irrevocably changed,” she said, adding: “We cannot deny the scale of the problems confronting the world today.”
The conference, attended by trade ministers from the WTO’s 166 member countries, comes at a time of deep divisions and growing global economic uncertainty, largely driven by the ongoing Middle East conflict.
Over the four-day meeting, members are expected to deliberate on ways to revitalise the global trade body, which has faced challenges including geopolitical tensions, stalled negotiations and increasing protectionist policies.
“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.”
She noted that the current disruptions reflect broader changes in the international system established after World War II to prevent global instability.
“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.”
The WTO ministerial conference, typically held every two years, is taking place in Africa for the second time, following the 2015 meeting in Nairobi.
