The 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was held between the 26 and the 30 of March 2026 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The topmost decision-making body of the WTO met, as scheduled on a bi-annual basis, and this time brought together nearly 2,000 trade officials and more than 90 ministers responsible for trade from WTO members, to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the multilateral trading system and to take action on the future work of the WTO. The Conference was chaired by Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, Cameroon's Minister of Trade. MC14’s agenda was quite packed, and included topics such as the extension of the E-Commerce moratorium, agricultural subsidies and the WTO reforms. Delegates worked around the clock to advance negotiations on these key portfolios, but the effort to assemble a ministerial declaration outlining a direction for future WTO reform, reopening negotiations on agriculture, and modernising the organisation’s rules to reflect digital trade did not bear fruit. While consensus ultimately proved elusive, the intensity of the discussions underscored the importance that members continue to attach to these issues.
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The ‘Geneva Telegram’ analyses and documents the processes in Geneva's multilateral organisations on current topics. The reports on multilateral issues draw on the expertise of the KAS Geneva team and external authors. The Geneva Telegram is supplemented by the Maps of the Month, which summarise the voting results of UN member states on selected topics.
