SVG’s Foreign Affairs Minister hopeful for IFDA’s inclusion into WTO legal framework

THE PROPOSAL of more than 150 members at the March 28, 2026 WTO Ministerial Conference to have the Investment Facilitation For Development Agreement (IFDA), incorporated into the legal framework of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) did not succeed. However, this country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Foreign Investment and Diaspora Affairs, Dwight Fitzgerald Bramble, who chaired WTO Ministerial Session is hopeful for a path forward to have this accomplished.

The 166 member countries of the WTO met on Saturday, March 28, 2026 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, within the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference, under the Chairmanship of minister Bramble to decide on the request submitted by 129 members for the IFDA to be incorporated into the WTO legal framework.

As facilitator, minister Bramble noted the broad support for the IFDA and highlighted its development benefits. About 80 delegations, including the CARICOM members, took the floor to urge the incorporation of the IFDA into the WTO framework and called for progress toward concrete development outcomes.

They stressed that incorporation would help unlock investment potential in developing economies and signal confidence in the WTO and the multilateral trading system, which is critical for all WTO members, particularly small economies.