On 4 September, 2025, the Friends of Multilateralism Group (FMG) organized the first session of FMG “WTO Disputes Decoding Series”. Gabrielle Marceau, FMG member and Honorary Professor (Emeritus) at the University of Geneva moderated this session.    

 

At the meeting, Jayashree Watal, FMG member and former Senior Official, Intellectual Property, Government Procurement and Competition Division of the WTO; Mark Cohen, Technology Consultant of Asia Society Northern California & Asia Society Policy Institute, former First USPTO Representative to China; and Enrico Bonadio, Professor of Law at City St. George’s, University of London shared their insights on the topic, and answered the questions from the participants.

 

Around 100 participants joined the session, including members of FMG/FFMG, Ambassadors/DPRs of WTO members, representatives from related international organizations, and experts from renowned think tanks and universities etc.

 

Watch this session via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3n7FCQA65E.

 

Annex 1: Program

15:30-15:32 Welcoming:

Lu Xiankun, FMG CEO

15:32-15:35

Introduction of the panel:

Gabrielle Marceau, Moderator

15:35-15:45 Facts and procedural steps of the dispute:

Jayashree Watal

15:45-15:55 The Essence of the MPIA Report and its importance:

Mark Cohen

15:55-16:05 Other issues:

Enrico Bonadio

16:05- 16:25 Discussions among panelists:

Jayashree Watal, Mark Cohen and Enrico Bonadio

16:25 – 17:00 Q&A:

Gabrielle Marceau, Moderator

 

Annex 2: List of participants

 

I.FMG/FFMG

Xiankun Lu (FMG)

Gabrielle Marceau (FMG)

Jayashree Watal (FMG)

Mercedes Araoz (FMG)

Hilda AL-Hinai(FMG)

Yonov Fred Agah (FMG)

Clemens Boonekamp (FMG)

Jonathan Fried (FMG)

Henry Gao (FMG)

Johanna Hill (FMG)

Alejandro Jara(FMG)

Brad McDonald(FMG)

Cecilia Malmstrom (FMG)

Fernando de MATEO (FMG)

Hamid Mamdouh (FMG)

Janet Njambi Macharia (FMG)

Mario Matus(FMG)

Petros C. Mavroidis(FMG)

Rosine Plank (FMG)

Mohammad Saeed (FMG)

Sherry Stephenson (FMG)

Luz Maria de la Mora(FFMG)

 

II.WTO Missions

Russia: Nikolai Platonov, Ambassador

Argentina: Gustavo Lunazzi, Ambassador

Djibouti: Kadra Ahmed Hassan, Ambassador

Israel: Shir Slutzky, DPR

Thailand: Sirapat Vajraphai, DPR

France: Alix Rancurel, DPR

Japan: Atsushi Kono, DPR

Singapore: Terri Lim, Counsellor

Japan: Mai Yaguchi, Counsellor

Japan: Azusa Kikuma, Counsellor

Bhutan: Passang Dorji, Counsellor

Guatemala: Flor de maria, Counsellor

China: Yuchi Ma, Counsellor

Thailand: Koolanant Marchet, Counsellor

Dominican Republic: Ariel Gautreaux, Counsellor

UK: David Stranger-Jones, Counsellor

Japan: Azusa Kikuma, Counsellor

Swiss: Johannes Schwarzer, Counsellor

Türkiye: Ipek Bezirhan, Counsellor

Cambodia: Kong Sokheng, Counsellor

France: Ellen Verdure, Counsellor

Singapore: Terri Lim, Counsellor

Germany: Nina Schubert, Counsellor

Brazil: Cristina Alexandre. Counsellor

Russia: Tamara Posadkova, Attache

United States: Rachel Bae, Attache

Nicaragua: Freddy Ruiz, Commercial attache

Cambodia: Nen Chansamuth, Commercial attache

Japan: Tatsuya Haga, First Secretary

India: Gaurav Gupta, First Secretary

Belgium: Sofie Ravaglia, First Secretary

New Zealand: Catherine Rissel, First Secretary

Australia: Rori Moyo, First Secretary

Czech: Monika Ededy Müllerová, Third Secretary

United States: Gabriele Gagliani, Senior Legal Advisor

EU: Hene Leht-Blight, Trade officer

 

III. WTO Divisions

Iryna Polovets, Advisor to DDG, WTO

Wolf Meier-Ewert, Counsellor, WTO

Rohini Acharya, Counsellor, WTO

Maria Pereyra, Senior Counsellor, Legal Affairs Divison

Hang Tran, Counsellor, WTO

 

  1. International Organizations

Adam Jakubik, IMF

Yogesh Pai, WIPO

 

  1. Universities

Enrico Bonadio, Professor, George’s University

Adrian Macey, Professor, Victoria University

Masabumi Suzuki, Professor, Waseda University

Guohua Yang, Professor, Tsinghua University Law Schoo

Di Liu, Professor, Tongji University

Ichiro Araki, Professor, Yokohama National University

Aniruddha Rajput, Professor, National Law a university, Delhi

Marco Bronckers, Professor, Universiteit Leiden

 

  1. Others

Mark Cohen, Consultant of the Asia Society of Northern California and the Asia Society Policy Institute

Werner Zdouc, Former Director, Knowledge and Information Management, Academic Outreach and WTO Chairs Programme

Joost Pauwelyn, Co-director, CEEI

Anneli Andresson, policy officer, European Commission

William Reinsch, CSIS