Geneva: Morocco Appointed to Chair the GSTP Participants Committee for 2025-2026
The Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, Omar Zniber, has been appointed Chair of the Participants Committee of the Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP) for the 2025-2026 period.
This appointment represents further recognition of Morocco’s credibility on the multilateral stage, its affirmed leadership at the regional level, and its constant commitment, under the guidance of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, to South-South cooperation and the promotion of a fairer and more inclusive international trading system.
In force since April 19, 1989, and currently comprising 42 members, including Morocco, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Thailand, the GSTP is the only interregional agreement legally based on the WTO Enabling Clause and administered by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). It seeks to promote South-South trade through tariff concessions, sectoral cooperation and trade facilitation.
In her invitation letter to Morocco’s candidacy, UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan praised “Morocco’s unwavering commitment to multilateralism and its leadership in promoting South-South cooperation.” She also commended Morocco’s sustained engagement with the GSTP, highlighting its role in strengthening solidarity and cooperation among developing countries, notably through its previous chairmanship of the Participants Committee from 1997 to 2002, as well as its continued role as depository of the Agreement.
As Chair of the Participants Committee, Morocco will be responsible for convening and presiding over the Committee’s meetings, facilitating dialogue among members, and injecting new momentum into the mechanism.
This mandate comes at a complex international moment, marked by trade tensions and major economic challenges for developing nations. Reviving the GSTP under Morocco’s chairmanship is intended to strengthen collective resilience among countries of the Global South and to harness the potential of their mutual trade.
In this context, Morocco will chair the 33rd session of the GSTP Participants Committee on September 25, 2025, in Geneva, ahead of hosting a high-level ministerial event on October 22, 2025, held in conjunction with the 16th UNCTAD Conference (UNCTAD 16), scheduled for October 20-23 in the same city.
Through this nomination, the Kingdom reaffirms its growing role in global value chains and its clear determination to contribute actively to building a fairer and more sustainable international trading system.
Editorial team/le7tv
