Geneva (AFP) - At a time of growing geopolitical tensions, the World Trade Organization must urgently reform itself, its chief said Wednesday, warning that “the status quo is not an option”.

The WTO, which regulates large swathes of global trade, has been facing increasing pressure to overhaul systems and structures considered by many as outdated and unable to keep pace with a rapidly changing world.

Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the organisation was “at an inflection point” at a time when “questions are being raised about whether multilateral organisations are still relevant”.

“Multilateral organisations like us need to change to be fit for purpose, need to reform for the times,” she told the UN correspondents’ association ACANU.

“I don’t think the status quo is an option.”

Speaking at the WTO’s Geneva headquarters, Okonjo-Iweala said that “the world is moving so fast”, citing the speed at which artificial intelligence and quantum technologies are moving.

“If your organisation doesn’t adapt, then you’ll be left behind,” she said.

- ‘Chaos’ -

The WTO faced structural and geopolitical obstacles long before US President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year and set about dramatically ratcheting up global trade tensions.

The WTO has, among other things, long been handicapped by a rule requiring full consensus among members, meaning decisions are few and far between, while its dispute settlement system has been crippled by the United States.

Reform will be at the heart of the WTO’s ministerial meeting in Cameroon next month.

Norway’s ambassador to the WTO Petter Olberg, who is facilitating talks on revamping the global trade body, told AFP in a recent interview that the organisation needed to “reform or die”.

Okonjo-Iweala said such a fate had to be avoided at all costs.

“This organisation provides stability and predictability,” she said, hailing that “in spite of all the knocks, it is still the bedrock for so much of world trade”.

“If we don’t have this system, what does it mean? I’ll be very honest with you: there’ll be chaos,” she said.

“It means a business will send goods somewhere without the knowledge of how those goods will be valued when it arrives at customs… you wouldn’t know how your goods will be valued before you’re tariffed.

“You’ll be confronted when your goods arrive with rules that you were never aware of,” she said.

- Path forward -

The WTO was created in 1995 and is based on a trading system established shortly after World War II.

The need for a revamp has been discussed for years, but the discussions have intensified since Trump returned to power, snubbing agreed trade rules and wielding huge tariffs against foes and friends alike.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, Okonjo-Iweala noted that the trade agreements announced by the Trump administration had not been notified to the WTO, as required to ensure they conform with the organisation’s rules.

This has raised concern that the deals could potentially violate the WTO’s “most-favoured nation” (MFN) principle, which aims to extend any trade advantage granted to one trading partner to all others, in a bid to avoid discrimination.

The United States itself indicated to the WTO last December that it considers the principle “unsuitable for this era”.

Asked whether she was concerned about discussions around the future of such a central WTO principle, Okonjo-Iweala said that “one should never be afraid to engage on the issues of the day”.

She noted that “72 percent of global merchandise trade is still on MFN”, speaking to “the strength and the resilience of the organisation and the principles on which it was founded”.

She added that the aim of the ministerial meeting in Cameroon was to agree on a path forward for negotiations on reforms.

“We are not expecting ministers to come down and solve the problems. We’re expecting them to come down and endorse a programme of work,” she said.