UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — The 14th Ministerial Conference of the WTO concluded on March 30, 2026 in Yaounde, Cameroon.

Q1. With reference to the outcomes of successive WTO Ministerial Conferences (MCs), consider the following statements. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

The Trade Facilitation Agreement — the first multilateral agreement concluded since the WTO's establishment — was finalised at the Bali Conference (MC9, 2013), whereas the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies was concluded at the Geneva Conference (MC12, 2022).
The Doha Conference (MC4, 2001) launched the Doha Development Agenda, while the Nairobi Conference (MC10, 2015) was the first WTO Ministerial Conference to be hosted on the African continent.
Every WTO Ministerial Conference held since 2001 has concluded with the adoption of a binding ministerial declaration.

MC14 was held in Yaoundé, Cameroon, making it the second WTO Ministerial Conference hosted in Africa, the first having been MC10 in Nairobi.
Unlike MC13 at Abu Dhabi (2024), which adopted a ministerial declaration, MC14 closed without an overall ministerial declaration.
At MC14, as at MC13, the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions was extended up to the next Ministerial Conference.

India, along with South Africa, led the opposition to incorporating the IFD Agreement at MC14.
India objected to bringing the IFD into the WTO as an Annex-4 (plurilateral) agreement.
India argued that investment facilitation lies outside the WTO's trade-focused mandate.
India agreed to the IFD's incorporation on condition that a transition period was granted to developing countries.

The IFD initiative was championed largely by China and a group of developing countries seeking WTO cover for investment facilitation.
Annex-4 of the Marrakesh Agreement covers plurilateral agreements that bind only those members that accept them.
India invoked the WTO's consensus-based decision-making to resist the plurilateral 'Joint Statement Initiative' route.
At MC14 the IFD Agreement was adopted as a new multilateral agreement binding on all WTO members.

The moratorium was first adopted at the Second WTO Ministerial Conference (1998) and has generally been renewed every two years thereafter.
At MC13 (Abu Dhabi, 2024) the moratorium was extended until MC14 or 31 March 2026, whichever was earlier, but at MC14 members failed to reach consensus and it lapsed.
India has consistently pressed for making the moratorium permanent in order to maximise its customs revenue from digital imports.

A. A commitment by members not to impose customs duties on cross-border electronic (digital) transmissions, periodically renewed at Ministerial Conferences
B. A permanent prohibition on levying any internal taxes on digital services traded across borders
C. A waiver permitting developing countries to levy higher import tariffs on electronic hardware
D. A temporary standstill on anti-dumping duties imposed on imported electronics

Annex 1A — multilateral agreements on trade in goods, including GATT 1994
Annex 1B — General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
Annex 1C — Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
Annex 2 — plurilateral agreements binding only on members that accept them