Introduction: The Times Call for New Knowledge

In June 2022, the 12th Ministerial Conference of the WTO was held in Geneva. The Conference adopted the so-called Geneva package of agreements, including the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS). This was 5 years after the 11th Ministerial Conference in December 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which declared the de facto failure of the Doha Round negotiation, breaking the rule and practice of a 2-yearly Ministerial Conference. The outcome of the Conference exceeded expectations and provided a glimmer of life and hope for the WTO, which has been continuously marginalized. During the 47 years of existence of the GATT, the predecessor of the WTO, the GATT initiated eight rounds of trade negotiations, which led to the birth of the WTO in the eighth round of negotiations, the Uruguay Round. After the WTO took over the GATT banner, in the nearly 30 years of its existence to date, it has initiated only one round of negotiations, the Doha Round, which ended inconclusively. The dispute settlement mechanism, once hailed as the jewel in the crown, has also been paralyzed by the demise of the Appellate Body. The WTO, once in the limelight, the target of violent protests in Seattle and Cancún, and the hallmark of free-trade policy, is now showing a bit of weakness when it comes to free trade.