WTO members agreed on 17 February on a draft decision for approval at the 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) in March on improving the integration of small economies into the world trading system. Adopted at a meeting of the Committee on Trade and Development's Dedicated Session on Small Economies, it is the first draft decision to be submitted for ministerial approval at MC14.

Submitted by the WTO's Group of Small, Vulnerable Economies (SVEs), the draft decision calls for WTO members to address how to integrate small economies more effectively into the digital trade economy, and into the multilateral trading system more generally. It calls on the WTO Secretariat to map the challenges SVEs face in trade logistics, connectivity and border processes, promote the adoption of trade facilitation and digital tools, while also improving transparency and traceability.

The decision also encourages the sharing of best practices on policies and regulatory frameworks, among other things, to increase the participation of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in small economies' digital trade.

MC14 will take place from 26 to 29 March in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

The draft decision calls on the Dedicated Session on Small Economies to continue monitoring progress on the small economies' proposals in WTO bodies and negotiating groups, with the aim of framing responses to the trade-related issues identified for the fuller integration of SVEs into the multilateral trading system, as mandated by ministers in the 2001 Doha Ministerial Declaration.

The decision also requests ministers to take note of the work undertaken to date in the Work Programme on Small Economies. A 2025 compilation paper by the WTO Secretariat outlining the work done thus far is available here.

The draft MC14 decision can be found here.

 Background

 WTO ministerial and General Council decisions relating to small economies include those adopted:

• at the latest Ministerial Conference held in Abu Dhabi in 2024
• at the 2022 Geneva Ministerial Conference
• at the Buenos Aires Ministerial Conference in 2017
• at the Nairobi Ministerial Conference in 2015
• at the Bali Ministerial Conference in 2013
• in 2011 at the Geneva Ministerial Conference
• at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005
• in Geneva in August 2004