Joint statement by WTO Members participating in the MPIA reaffirming commitment to a functioning dispute settlement system 

Statement by Australia; Barbados; Benin; Brazil; Canada; Chile; China; Colombia; Costa Rica; Ecuador; the European Union; Guatemala; Hong Kong, China; Iceland; Japan; Lichtenstein; Macao, China; Mexico; Malaysia; Moldova; Montenegro; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Norway; Pakistan; Paraguay; Peru; the Philippines; Singapore; Switzerland; Ukraine; United Kingdom; Uruguay; and Viet Nam

We, the Ministers of WTO Members participating in the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA), reiterate our strong commitment to having a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all Members. A reformed WTO dispute settlement system remains our priority objective, in line with commitments made by WTO Members at the 12th and 13th Ministerial Conferences.

In the meantime, through the MPIA, any disputes among us continue to benefit from a binding dispute settlement system at the WTO, including the availability of an independent and impartial appeal stage. This ensures that WTO rules can be enforced in order to secure compliance and that trade disputes among us can be resolved, without “appeals into the void”.

The MPIA is therefore important in providing security and predictability to the multilateral trading system during these challenging times. As participation in the MPIA continues to grow, this strengthens our efforts to support a multilateral trading system based on rules.

We congratulate the WTO Members that joined the MPIA since the 13th Ministerial Conference and we extend a warm welcome to Barbados, Lichtenstein and Moldova that joined the MPIA in recent weeks.

Pending the establishment of a fully and well- functioning WTO dispute settlement system, we encourage other WTO Members to join the MPIA, which provides rules-based stability, security and predictability.