[JOINT MINISTERIAL STATEMENT] 2025 Forum Trade Ministers Meeting

JOINT STATEMENT BY FORUM TRADE MINISTERS MEETING 

1. We, the Pacific Islands Forum Trade Ministers, at our meeting on 18 July 2025, recall the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, and emphasise the value of regional solidarity in the face of global trade uncertainty, while highlighting the enduring importance of trade to the livelihoods and prosperity of the peoples of the Pacific region.

2. We reaffirm the importance of genuine and enduring partnerships with all global partners and reiterate our openness to constructive dialogue aimed at shaping a sustainable and inclusive future for the Pacific region.

3. We note the recent analysis, highlighting that vulnerable economies, including Small Island Developing States, although accounting for a modest share of global trade, are disproportionately affected by trade disruptions.

4. We reaffirm the importance of the open, multilateral, rules-based trading system, with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at its core, which has delivered stability and predictability in global trade for small and vulnerable economies.

5. We commend WTO Members for their ongoing efforts to pursue solutions that uphold and strengthen the rules-based multilateral trading system.

6. As WTO Members prepare for the Fourteenth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Yaoundé, Cameroon in March 2026, we urge WTO Members to:

i. Reaffirm their collective commitment to preserving the WTO and its rules-based system;
 

ii. Support the advancement of WTO reform, including the urgent restoration of a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all Members as soon as possible;

iii. Commit to ratify the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (Fish 1) in a timely fashion and call on WTO Members to complete the outstanding negotiations from MC12, in particular the agreement on fisheries subsidies addressing overcapacity and overfishing (Fish 2) to fully deliver on SDG14.6;

iv. Advance progress in other critical areas such as agriculture, development, services, and e-commerce;

v. Recognise the importance of Aid-for-Trade and the Sevilla Commitment and call upon development partners to support vulnerable countries in building resilience to external shocks through enhanced supply-side capacity and export market diversification; and 

vi. Acknowledge the role of trade in addressing environment and climate change challenges, which particularly impact our region, and support cooperation on mutually reinforcing trade and environment measures.

7. We offer our collective support to the Republic of Cameroon to host a successful MC14 and remain committed to working collaboratively with all WTO Members to achieve positive outcomes.

8. We call on all partners to engage meaningfully with Pacific Islands Forum Member Countries trade-related matters through dialogue grounded in mutual respect, good faith, and a shared recognition of the strong historical, economic, cultural, and people-to-people ties.

[ENDS]