World Trade Organization (WTO)
Meeting between Foreign Minister MOTEGI and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
October 30, 2025
On October 30, commencing at 9:55 a.m. for approximately 25 minutes, Mr. MOTEGI Toshimitsu, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, during his visit to Gyeongju, South Korea to attend the APEC Ministerial Meeting, held a meeting with Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The overview of the meeting is as follows:
- At the outset, Minister MOTEGI expressed his gratitude to Director-General Okonjo-Iweala, an old friend, for the congratulatory message on his appointment as Foreign Minister, and stated that Japan would continuously place importance on the rules-based multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core even in the severe international trade environment. In response, Director-General Okonjo-Iweala expressed her gratitude for Japan’s consistent support to the WTO.
- Both sides affirmed that they would keep working closely together for strengthening the multilateral trading system, promoting WTO reform, and succeeding in the Fourteenth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) in March 2026.