PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2019) The World Trade Organization (WTO) is in a poor condition and the discussions of its reform are facing multiple difficulties, Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin said.
After his visit to France, Oreshkin told reporters that the discussions of the WTO reforms were very difficult.
"During my recent visit to Saudi Arabia, I discussed this topic with the Saudi minister, they have a number of initiatives ahead of the G20 Summit. The situation in the organization seems to be very poor and hopefully, during the G20 Summit in Saudi Arabia, joint approaches to reforming the WTO will be developed," Oreshkin said.
The discussions of reforming the WTO have been going on for years and the organization's 164 member states are yet to reach a consensus on the matter. The members are divided into two camps, with one group of states � including Russia � advocating for the organization's further development and another calling for setting a new format for the WTO.
In December, Russia and France agreed to create a ministerial-level working group on reforming the WTO.
