WTO Needs Overhaul But Fall In Influence, Dissolution Should Not Be Implied - Medvedev

PORT MORESBY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th November, 2018) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday noted the need to renovate the World Trade Organization (WTO), suggesting that this should not bring a fall in its influence or the collapse of the organization.

"Just like many other countries, we acknowledge that the organization [WTO] indeed needs to be renovated but this should not imply a decrease in its influence, undermining the basic principles of its work or its dissolution which might mean the collapse of civilized trade," Medvedev said at an APEC Summit in Papua New Guinea.

The Asia Pacific Free Trade Area would be created only on the basis on the WTO norms, Medvedev pointed out, calling on joint efforts to increase the effectiveness of the WTO and its regulatory role in global trade.