Strengthening the Multilateral Trading System: The WTO Reform and the Path to Ministerial Conference 14

This lecture provides an overview of the outcomes from MC12 and MC13 in the context of the path toward MC14, with a dedicated focus on the WTO reform process. By analyzing the drive to modernize the Organization for a global landscape far removed from its 1995 inception, the session explores how the WTO can remain the resilient core of the multilateral trading system while advancing critical discussions on topics such as digital trade, investment facilitation and sectoral negotiations.  

About the speaker

Sofía Boza is the Ambassador of Chile to the WTO, WIPO, UNCTAD, and the ITC since July 2022. She co-coordinates the Joint Statement Initiative on Investment Facilitation for Development at the WTO; in 2023 she chaired the WTO Working Group on Trade and Technology Transfer; and in 2024 the WTO Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Previously, she was associate professor and head of the Department of Rural Management and Innovation at the University of Chile, and professor at its Institute of International Studies, as well as external evaluator for the Budget Office of the Chilean Ministry of Finance. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics (Honors) from the University of Seville, a professional title in Commercial Engineering from the University of Chile, and a master’s in Economic Development and Public Policies and a PhD in Economics from the Autonomous University of Madrid.