GYEONGJU, South Korea – The collective leadership of Apec’s 21 economies is needed to reform and strengthen the World Trade Organisation (WTO) so that it stays effective and relevant, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.
While the WTO is not perfect, countries should not seek to abandon the trade body, but rather to improve it, he said on Oct 31 at a session of the Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM), which runs from Oct 31 to Nov 1 in Gyeongju, South Korea.
Noting that 2025’s meeting was taking place amid multilateralism under pressure and a global economy facing headwinds, PM Wong called on Apec members to support new mechanisms for “outcome-oriented decision-making” at the WTO, as its current consensus principles have become a recipe for paralysis.
They should also embrace flexible multilateralism, so that like-minded countries can move first to respond to new and emerging issues, while others can join when they are ready, he added.
PM Wong’s remarks came days after WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called for reform of the trade body’s consensus rule, which requires unanimous agreement among its 166 members to secure global trade deals.
A new approach is needed, particularly as the global trading system is undergoing its largest disruption in eight decades, Dr Okonjo-Iweala said on Oct 28.
On Oct 31, PM Wong echoed calls by other Apec leaders to lend their political support to launch the reform process when WTO members meet in Cameroon in March 2026. The meeting, which takes place every two years, is the highest decision-making platform for the 30-year-old trade body.
“Apec was founded with the mission to champion free and open trade and investments in the Asia-Pacific region,” he noted. “This mission is now more important than ever, and it is our collective leadership that will enable us to achieve this.”
PM Wong also outlined other ways for Apec economies to shore up the rules-based multilateral trading system.
For instance, cooperation across different trade groupings should be stepped up to move closer to countries’ longer-term goal of a free trade area of the Asia-Pacific.
