The World Trade Organisation, WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference, MC14, kicked-off in the Conference Centre, Yaounde, the political capital of Cameroon, on Thursday, March 26, 2026. The MC14 will run from 26 to 29 March 2026. It brings together trade ministers from across the world who will discuss some pertinent trade challenges and opportunities facing the multilateral trading system. In all, delegates from some 166 countries are attending the Yaounde Conference. The MC14 Conference is aimed at taking immediate and long term actions on the future work of the World Trade Organisation. The Conference is being chaired by Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, Cameroon’s Minister of Trade.
Cameroon’s Prime Minister, Chief Dr Dion Ngute, Representative of Cameroon’s Head of State, and a cross-section of cabinet ministers, policy-makers and trade stakeholders are amongst those present at the opening session.
Prior to the opening proper, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization, who is serving her second term at the helm of WTO had held numerous preparative meetings with the Cameroonian authorities. Dr. Ngozi, a Nigerian economists and international development expert, who is serving her second four-year term, is not only the first woman, but also the first African to be appointed Director-General of the World Trade Organisation.
It is worthy to recall that ahead of the MC14 Conference in Yaounde, Cameroon, some 79 WTO members on March 19, 2026 participated in the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD). They unveiled a package of outcome documents showcasing progress achieved over the past five years and highlighting the group’s substantive analytical work across several work streams since MC13. Members also expressed their readiness to shift towards priority areas and deliver concrete actions after MC14.
