The World Trade Organization postponed the Minister of In-Person’s Conference in Geneva as Switzerland tightened the restriction of travel after the discovery of the new strain of Coronavirus.
WTO members made decisions at the emergency meeting held on Friday night to discuss the possibility of alternative arrangements for their minister’s conference. The conference will be held as soon as the condition allows, the General Council of the Dacio Castillo said in a statement.
“My priority is the health and safety of all MC12 participants – ministers, delegates and civil society,” said Director General of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweal. “It’s better to do wrong on the careful side.”
The Swiss government announced a ban on all direct flights from South Africa after the World Health Organization said that a new, potentially risky named Omicron was a concerned variant. Starting on Friday everyone who entered Switzerland from South Africa, Hong Kong, Israel and Belgium had to bring a negative Covid-19 test and entered quarantine for 10 days, according to a statement from the Swiss Federal Public Health Office.
Countries throughout Europe have stopped air travel from South Africa amid growing worries about variants. European Union members agreed to quickly impose restrictions on seven African countries – Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe – when scientists rush to determine whether new strains are more dangerous.
Sudden changes can prevent the Minister of Trade from achieving an agreement on critical issues related to the neglect of the WTO intellectual property rules for vaccines and therapeutics.
About 4,000 trade officials plan to travel to Geneva for the 12th ministerial conference WTO, a meeting of the body of the highest decision making organizations.
The meeting, which is scheduled to take place from November 30 to December 3, presents a rare opportunity for the government to provide real results that affect the lives of everyday people.
The WTO Minister’s meeting usually takes place every two years but there has been no ministerial conference since 2017 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.