World Trade Organization (WTO)
Meeting between Foreign Minister HAYASHI and WTO Director-General OKONJO-IWEALA
May 20, 2023
On May 20, commencing at around 11:40am, for approximately 20 minutes, Mr. HAYASHI Yoshimasa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, held a meeting with Dr. Ngozi OKONJO-IWEALA, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), who is visiting Japan to attend the G7 Hiroshima Summit. The overview of the meeting is as follows.
- At the outset, Minister Hayashi welcomed Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s visit to Japan following her visit, upon invitation by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in October 2022. He then expressed his appreciation towards Dr. Okonjo-Iweala for her participation and contributions to the G7 Hiroshima Summit as well as the first “G7 Trade Ministers’ Meeting”, which was held on April 4, 2023.
- Minister Hayashi also made calls to strengthen cooperation towards the second “G7 Trade Ministers’ Meeting”, to be held in October this year in Osaka-Sakai, and the Thirteenth Ministerial Conference (MC13), to be held in February 2024.
- In response, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala expressed her appreciation to Japan for its contribution in addressing global challenges as the G7 Presidency. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala also expressed her expectations for the G7 to take a leading role in working towards WTO reform, including DS reform.
- Finally, Minister Hayashi and Dr. Okonjo-Iweala confirmed that Japan and the WTO will deepen cooperation towards MC13.