"The main priority for the European Union must be to tackle the crisis of the WTO Court of Appeals," Energy, Commerce and Industry Minister George Lakkotrypis said today, while stressing the need to find a solution as soon as possible, in his interventino to the EU Foreign Affairs Council, composed of Commerce Ministers, held today in Brussels.

Referring to the forthcoming WTO Ministerial Conference, the Minister of Commerce also stressed that "in view of this important milestone, efforts should be made to modernize the WTO but also to intensify discussions with other trading partners to enhance its functionality and effectiveness".
 
The challenges that the World Trade Organization (WTO) faces and the state of play of modernizing the core functions of the Organization have been at the heart of the meeting of Ministers, who also worked on preparations for the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference, to be held in June 2020 in Kazakhstan.
 
According to a statement issued by the ministry, the EU28 "also had the opportunity to assess recent developments and next steps on EU-US trade relations and exchange views on the implementation of European Union trade agreements". Ministers also had the opportunity to exchange views on developments in EU-China trade relations, as well as on the progress made in other bilateral trade negotiations.

Finally, the European Commission presented the findings of the Eurobarometer on international trade.

(CNA)