The Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA) hosted a conference on April 24 and 25 focused on Two of the issues that were agreed upon during the twelfth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (MC12) in 2022.
This event, organized by the National University of Costa Rica (UNA), brought together academics and policy makers to exchange views on the subject within the framework of the WTO Chairs Programme.
The conference was chaired by Edith Flores de Molina, director of the Center for Studies on Economic Integration, Marco Vinicio Méndez Coto, director of the School of International Relations UNA, Beatriz Bolaños Sagastume, director of the School of Political Science of the University of San Carlos and Gerald Solano Aguilar, of the WTO-CR UNA Chair. In addition, the guest of honor was present, Mrs. Gloria Abraham Peralta, Ambassador of Costa Rica to the WTO (2019-2022), who was in charge of the agricultural negotiations at the WTO during the period 2020-2022.
“SIECA is home to 51 million Central Americans. We are proud to bring academia closer to decision-makers, but especially to the government, and to strengthen the proposals so that in the future legislative proposals are adopted to work on overcoming some obstacles,” he said. Edith Flores de Molina, director of the Center for Studies for Economic Integration SIECA.
During the first day, sessions were held for public sector officials (government), with the participation of delegates from the Ministries of Economy and Agriculture, as well as the Customs Office; and on the second day, sessions were held for students, academics, researchers and representatives of business chambers.
In this dynamic framework, the attendees were informed of the topics included in the WTO negotiation agenda, in order to generate a Preliminary discussion of what will be the 13th Ministerial Conference, as well as the processes of building actions that allow progress towards the objectives set by the different protagonists of trade exchange at a global level.
According to SIECA, the panellists discussed the challenges posed by digital trade and the issues on the agenda for agricultural negotiations, highlighting food insecurity and export competition.
The National University of Costa Rica is the first Chair selected by the WTO in the Central American region, the source said.
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