French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, right, and World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, left, elbow-bump after a joint news conference at WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, April 1, 2021.
(Denis Balibouse/Pool via AP)GENEVA ā The head of the World Trade Organization called Thursday for expanded capability in developing countries to manufacture vaccines, saying the gaping imbalance in access to coronavirus vaccines that mostly favors rich, developed countries was unacceptable.
āWe are convinced that the WTO has a major role to play.āHe said France supported āconcrete reformā to help improve dispute resolution and ease trade tensions.
Le Maire advocated āclear and respected trade rules,ā notably on intellectual property, state aid and reciprocity agreements between countries.
The United States over successive administrations has held up appointments to the WTO's appeals court, which helps adjudicate trade disputes across the world.