On July 23rd, the Friends of Multilateralism Group (FMG) held the Annual Board Meeting and on August 22th, FMG held the 2024 General Assembly. Both meetings were chaired by Alejandro Jara, Co-Chair of Board of FMG.
At the two meetings, FMG Board and FMG members have discussed on the new members, change of FMG Board, FMG activities and the participation of FMG community in FMG activities in the last reporting period (July 2023-July 2024), the appointment of the CEO, FMG membership fee and its usage, among other issues.
28 FMG members have participated in the GA.
Annex 1: List of Participants at the GA
1.Axel Addy
2.Rajesh Aggarwal
3.Hilda Al-Hinai
4.Mercedes Araoz
5.Clemens Boonekamp
6.Deborah Elms
7.Jonathan Fried
8.Henry Gao
9.Stuart Harbinson
10.Jennifer Hillman
11.Alejandro Jara
12.Wenhua Ji
13.Masamichi Kono
14.Robert Koopman
15.Patrick Low
16.Xiankun Lu
17.Janet Macharia
18.Hamid Mamdouh
19.Mario Matus
20.Petros Mavroidis
21.Brad McDonald
22.Maxim Medvedkov
23.Victor do Prado
24.Sherry Stephenson
25.Peter Ungphakorn
26.Jayashree Watal
27.John Weekes
28.Alan Wolff
Annex 2: Agenda of Board Meeting
FMG Board Meeting
23.07.2024
1.Confirm new FMG members
2.Appointment of the CEO
3.Terms of Office of Board Members
4.FMG Annual Activity Report
5.Annual Report on the Participation of FMG Community in FMG Open Brainstormings (July 2023-July 2024)
6.Annual Report on the Participation of FMG/FFMG members in FMG Activities (July 2023-July 2024)
7.FMG Annual Membership Fee 2024 and its future usage
8.Other business
Annex 3: Agenda of GA
1.Confirm new FMG members
2.Appointment of the CEO
3.Change of FMG Board
4.FMG Annual Activity Report
5.Annual Report on the Participation of FMG Community in FMG Open Brainstormings (July 2023-July 2024)
6.Annual Report on the Participation of FMG/FFMG members in FMG Activities (July 2023-July 2024)
7.FMG Annual Membership Fee 2024 and its future usage
8.Other business
Annex 4: FMG Activity Report from July 2023-July 2024
I.Activity report July 2023-July 2024
From July 2023 to July 2024, FMG continued to adopt the form of virtual or hybrid meetings and has (co-)organized altogether 29 activities covering a wide range of issues, including:
1.Brainstorming sessions (10): IFD and its integration into the MTS, Trade and National Security, Trade and Environment, WTO Reform and MC13-Private Sector Perspective, Review of MC13 Results, DSU Reform and MC13, Trade in Services and MC13, Agriculture and MC13, the Role of WTO Ministerial Conferences (2)
2.Internal briefings or discussions (7): Trump and His Tariff War, OECD Trade Strategy, Mexico’s Recent Trade Policies, ICC’s Trade Strategy, WTO Subsidy Retreat, WTO SOM and MC13, US Trade Policy
3.Trade Policy Preview (T-PP) Sessions (2): SACU and China.
4.FMG interview series “MC13 and beyond” (10): Trade and Geopolitics, Review of MC13 Outcomes, WTO Reform, Trade in Services, Industrial Policy, Dispute Settlement Reform, Agriculture, Investment Facilitation for Development, E-commerce, Trade and Gender
5.2023 WTO Public Forum Session: FMG/FFMG members actively participated in a total of 23 sessions at 2023 WTO Public Forum.
List of all FMG activities in the reporting period
1)September 6th 2023 | FMG Internal Discussion on Trump and His Tariff War
2)September 7th 2023 | FMG Internal Briefing on OECD Trade Strategy
3)September 11th 2023 | FMG Internal Briefing on Mexico’s Recent Trade Policies
4)September 21st 2023 | FMG Internal Briefing on ICC’s Trade Strategy
5)October 4th 2023 | FMG “Trade Policy Preview” (TP-P) Session on SACU
6)October 18th 2023 | FMG Online Brainstorming Session on IFD and its integration into the MTS
7)November 10th 2023 | FMG Internal Briefing on WTO Subsidy Retreat
8)November 28th 2023 | FMG Online Brainstorming on Trade and National Security
9)January 24th 2024 | FMG Online Brainstorming on Trade and Environment
10)January 30th 2024 | FMG Internal Briefing on WTO SOM and MC13
11)February 8th 2024 | FMG Online Brainstorming Session on WTO Reform and MC13-Private Sector Perspective
12)March 11th 2024 | FMG Online Brainstorming Session on Review of MC13 Results
13)March 26th 2024 | FMG Online Brainstorming Session on DSU Reform and MC13
14)April 16th 2024 | FMG Online Brainstorming Session on Trade in Services and MC13
15)May 7th 2024 | FMG Online Brainstorming Session on Agriculture and MC13
16)May 30th 2024 | FMG Internal Briefing on US Trade Policy
17)June 4th 2024 | FMG Brainstorming on the Role of WTO Ministerial Conference
18)June 26th 2024 | FMG “Trade Policy Preview” (TP-P) Session on China
19)July 11th 2024 | FMG Brainstorming on WTO Ministerial Conferences
20)February 29th 2024 -March 22nd 2024 | FMG interview series “MC13 and beyond” (10 interviews)
II.Two One-Pagers of FMG
1)September 13th 2023 | “The Underappreciated Benefits Of Multilateral Rules-Based Trade” by Mercedes Araoz, Deborah Elms, Mia Mikic and Sherry Stephenson
2)March 25th 2024 | “The Underestimated Costs of Protectionism” by Mercedes Araoz, Deborah Elms, Mia Mikic and Sherry Stephenson
III.New FMG Members
This year, the following thirteen persons become FMG members (in alphabetic order of family name):
Rajesh Aggarwal, Hilda Al-Hinai, Jeannie Cameron, John Clarke, Ram Etwareea, Jennifer Hillman, Robert Koopman, Dorotea López, Janet Macharia, Hamish McCormick, Tatjana Sachse, Mohammad Saeed, Ji Wenhua.
IV.Participation of FMG Community
This year, the average number of participants in the FMG virtual sessions is around 50, ranging from nearly 30 on the low end to over 80 on the high end.
V.Publications of Members and FFMG (reposted)
1.July 2023 | Olaf Wientzek | Parting thoughts about multilateralism after four years in Geneva
2.August 2023 | Anabel González | Two years at the WTO: My take on the future of the multilateral trading system
3.August 2023 | Alan Wolff | WTO members find a new (and successful) approach to negotiations
4.August 2023 | Alan Wolff | Trump is gearing up for the Second Trade War. Congress tried something similar in the 1930s–and it didn’t end well
5.August 2023 | Michele Ruta | US-China decoupling: Rhetoric and reality
6.September 2023 | Mia Mikic | Perspectives on IPEF from Aotearoa New Zealand
7.September 2023 | Peter Draper | Much Ado about Something? Australia’s Views on IPEF’s Prospects
8.October 2023 | Xinquan Tu | China’s proposal on WTO reform
9.November 2023 | Alan Wolff | The WTO must prevent the erosion of the rules of the world trading system at its next ministerial conference
10.November 2023 | Brad McDonald | Rethinking Technology Transfer to Support the Climate Agenda
11.November 2023 | Hamid Mamdouh | How to fix the WTO: A holistic framework for reform
12.January 2024 | Cristián Rodríguez-Chiffelle | Navigating the Rise in Foreign Investment Screening
13.January 2024 | Simon Evenett | Why the return of the industrial policy matters for business
14.January 2024 | Deborah Elms | The challenge of getting to yes at the WTO
15.February 2024 | John Clarke | Same Bed Different Dreams? US and India in the WTO
16.February 2024 | Peter Ungphakorn | Cynics circle as another WTO Ministerial Conference heads for small pickings
17.February 2024 | Peter Ungphakorn | Definitely. Maybe. Unlikely. Who knows? Issues on the WTO conference agenda
18.February 2024 | Stuart Harbinson | WTO Abu Dhabi Conference: Stalemate or Stepping Stone
19.February 2024 | Alan Wolff | The WTO Ministerial Conference opens amid uncertainty about the future of the world trading system
20.February 2024 | John Clarke | Still Riding the Marrakesh Express: Agriculture in the WTO
21.March 2024 | Mohan Kumar | The WTO struggles, yet again!
22.April 2024 | John Clarke | China Shock 2.0: What the West should and should not worry about
23.April 2024 | Jianzhong Huang | Strategies and Countermeasures for Coordinating High-standard Opening-up, High-quality Development, and High-level Security
24.May 2024 | Pradeep S. Mehta | Economic Diplomacy: India’s Ascendency in the 21st Century
25.June 2024 | Xiankun Lu | The WTO at the Age of 30: Challenges of WTO Reform and the Role of China
VI.Publicity
1.FMG activities are regularly shared via FMG official website, LinkedIn, and WeChat.
2.Brainstorming Sessions are recorded and shared via the above social channels and through YouTube FMG.
3.FMG and FFMG members are also encouraged to helping with publicity by using their FMG/FFMG titles, logos and sharing FMG activities and publications.
4.FMG has circulated six newsletters for May-August 2023, September 2023, October-November 2023, December 2023, January-February 2024, March-April 2024 respectively. The newsletter for May-July 2024 will be distributed after the Board Meeting.
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