KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 — Malaysia is of the view that it is important for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to accelerate its efforts to improve the organisation’s role in governing the multilateral trading system, especially in addressing global challenges and uncertainties at the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in Geneva scheduled next week.

Ambassador Syahril Syazli Ghazali, Malaysia’s permanent representative to the WTO, said the involvement of Senior Officials would add momentum to the discussions in Geneva while laying a stronger foundation in ensuring a productive and fruitful upcoming 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13).

"SOM will provide a platform to close existing gaps in outstanding issues as some differences can be addressed through high-level interactions as issues such as agricultural and fisheries subsidies, food security and sustainability are closely related to politics and social interests,” he said in a statement.

He said in this regard, the results mean that the MC13 in Abu Dhabi, scheduled for February next year, is a must and Malaysia sees the SOM as one of the initiatives to support such expectations.

The primary purpose of SOM is to see progress on mandated issues; provide political guidance and support on outstanding issues; resolve certain issues; explore potential deliverables and substantive outcomes for MC13; and discuss pressing global issues.

Senior Officials of WTO Members are scheduled to discuss and provide political guidance, support and direction on the main topics discussed in the WTO, namely agriculture, including food security, development, fisheries subsidy negotiations, dispute settlement reforms and e-commerce among others.

Additionally, in ensuring a comprehensive discussion, issues such as environmental sustainability and industrial policy will be given special attention as well.

At the sidelines of SOM, Malaysia has received bilateral requests from Uruguay and Ukraine to date.

In addition to the WTO matter, the bilateral meeting will also focus on matters related to accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and bilateral economic cooperation. — Bernama