Many developing countries, including the Philippines, are open to a careful recalibration of the global trading system that protects its foundation while ensuring fairness, according to a Philippine government official here.
Speaking at the launch of the World Trade Organization (WTO) World Trade Report 2026, Ambassador Manuel Antonio Teehankee, the Philippines’ Permanent Representative to the WTO, cautioned against abandoning the current framework amid global disruptions.
‘From a development perspective, many developing countries indeed are very open to recalibration or a rebalancing to take into account the new circumstances,’ Teehankee said.
However, Teehankee stressed that recalibration does not mean dismantling the current system.
‘It really means recognizing how those who have not benefited as much can achieve [the level of] those who have succeeded,’ the envoy said, adding that developing countries such as the Philippines ‘are firm believers in the core of the system.’
The envoy explained that any adjustments to the global trading rules should reaffirm development as the core objective, with special and differential treatment (SandD) remaining ‘a fundamental part of the development bargain.’
‘SandD by its very definition is special and differential. Recalibration means being very specific on how to help those countries that have not developed as much as the leading emerging [and] developing economies,’ Teehankee said.
The envoy also said lower-income countries should be provided with the necessary tools, such as technical capacity-building, infrastructure, and investment, to keep up with other economies.
‘The overall goal should be that all countries reach a level of equality and equity that will deliver to all citizens of the world. That’s the basic objective,’ he added.
The latest WTO report revealed that low- and middle-income economies account for 45 percent of the global merchandise trade, nearly double from 23 percent in 1995.
The report said this expansion, which underpinned substantial gross domestic product (GDP) growth and helped lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, coincided with the WTO’s creation in 1995, aligning with its foundational objectives to raise living standards worldwide. /