Kalu urges WTO action on food security, investment

By Gift Chapi Odekina, Abuja

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has called on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to deliver concrete outcomes on food security and investment facilitation, warning that prolonged delays could weaken confidence in the multilateral trading system.

Kalu made the call on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, while speaking at the 57th Session of the Steering Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO (PCWTO), attended by WTO Director-General, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The session, co-chaired by Bernd Lange of the European Parliament and Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Anda Filip, brought together parliamentarians from national and regional legislatures, trade policy experts, the European Parliament and the IPU.

The committee reviewed developments in multilateral trade negotiations, follow-up actions from the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14), and outcomes of the PCWTO session held in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Kalu acknowledged progress on fisheries subsidies and development issues but said the WTO’s credibility would ultimately depend on its ability to deliver tangible outcomes for developing countries.

He expressed concern over the absence of a permanent solution to public stockholding for food security, 13 years after WTO members committed to addressing the issue at the 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference.

According to him, Nigeria had co-sponsored the demand by the African Group, African, Caribbean and Pacific Group and G33 for a permanent solution.

“Thirteen years cannot be explained as an ordinary negotiating delay. Behind every delayed outcome are farmers, workers and families living with the consequences of decisions we defer,” Kalu said.

As an interim measure, the Deputy Speaker proposed that WTO members consider a waiver under Article IX:3 of the Marrakesh Agreement to cover qualifying public stockholding programmes.

He argued that the absence of consensus should not render an existing treaty mechanism unusable when countries were facing pressing food security challenges.

Kalu also raised concerns over the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement, saying broad support for the agreement had been stalled by a single formal objection.

He called for greater accountability from national parliaments and proposed that participating legislatures submit reports on concrete steps taken to advance PCWTO and WTO outcomes before each Steering Committee meeting.

“Too often, our discussions focus on what Geneva has or has not done. We should devote equal attention to what our own governments and legislatures have done since the last meeting. Accountability must run in both directions,” he said.

The Deputy Speaker further cautioned that improved attendance at parliamentary trade meetings alone would not address the challenge of legislative relevance in global trade governance.

He said many legislatures received briefings only after negotiating positions had already been finalised.

Kalu proposed that future PCWTO sessions focus on specific economic issues, including public stockholding, investment facilitation, the e-commerce moratorium and digital trade rules.

Such an approach, he said, would enable parliamentarians to communicate clear conclusions and areas of disagreement to trade ministers before negotiations.

Kalu, who joined the PCWTO Steering Committee in February 2025, also secured a reaffirmation from the IPU Secretary-General of the organisation’s commitment to working with him towards the successful hosting of the PCWTO event scheduled for Abuja in 2027.

He reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to a fair, credible and development-oriented global trading system.

“Nigeria is not here to add to the diagnosis. We are here to help restore that trust,” Kalu said.

Earlier, Okonjo-Iweala presented an update on WTO reforms, covering decision-making, development, special and differential treatment, fairness and dispute settlement.

She noted that while consensus gives all WTO members an equal voice, its application as unanimity had enabled single objections to block outcomes with broad support.

The WTO Director-General urged parliamentarians to move beyond criticism and propose practical solutions for rebuilding confidence in the organisation, citing transparency and improved notifications as possible confidence-building measures.

She also called for deeper engagement between parliamentarians and Geneva-based trade actors, including national WTO representatives, the Chair of the General Council, reform facilitators and committee chairs.

Okonjo-Iweala acknowledged that the multilateral trading system had not served many developing and poorer countries effectively, while defending the continued relevance of special and differential treatment.

She also stressed the importance of investment facilitation to developing economies and said restoring an effective two-tier dispute settlement system remained part of the WTO reform agenda.