Good to receive Minister @TkatchenkoMP, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Papua New Guinea. Congratulations on opening your mission in Geneva to serve the UN Institutions and the WTO. Thanks for indications of your keenness to support the work of the WTO and the Strengthening of the Multilateral Trading System. Also appreciated your excellent remarks on valuing Papua New Guinea’s natural capital. Wishing the Government the best in its new policies to advance the country’s development.

At a farewell lunch with H.E Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy of Türkiye, former chair of the WTO Committee on Agriculture in Special Session (CoASS). Thank you for your hard work, your intellect and your resilience. And your wit - always appreciate your sense of humour! Wishing you the very best.

With H.E President @CyrilRamaphosa in Davos. Discussing South Africa’s G20 presidency and its priorities. Many thanks for South Africa’s strong participation at the @WTO including support for WTO reform. Look forward to working with you on the G20 priorities. Also with Minister of International Relations H.E @RonaldLamola.

Happy to sign an MOU today with a great colleague, Ian Saunders, Secretary General of the World Customs Organization @WCOSG. A sister organisation - strengthening collaboration between @WTO and @WCO_OMD to deliver better for our members. We are custodians of the Agreement on Customs Valuation which sets out the methodology for valuing goods before application of tarrifs or customs duties. Thus giving businesses more certainty and helping to build trust in the multilateral trading system.

In Davos at the World Economic Forum. Didn’t know I could skate, but nice to see me skating ahead, focused on getting issues solved. On the cover of @TIME Magazine - Davos Edition.

Today, it is with humility and a great sense of honour that I thank each and every one of the 166 WTO members for the consensus they achieved in supporting my reappointment! Thank you for the wonderful words of recognition and support. I don’t take this lightly. I also want to thank my colleagues in the Secretariat Staff for their dedication and hard work. This is an enormous responsibility and I will redouble my efforts to work with each and every member to try and deliver the results this organization needs, including the necessary reforms to make it fit for 21st century challenges. We’ve done it before, we can do it again! I am also grateful to my family, my country, to the Africa Region, and to all my friends and colleagues from all over the world who have reached out with hundreds of congratulatory messages. Thank you for the recognition!

Congratulations to the Government of Paraguay, the Paraguayan delegation led by H.E Vice Minister Patricia Frutos Ruiz and H.E Amb Raul Cano Ricciardi for a successful Trade Policy Review. Happy to see the efforts that Paraguay is making to grow the economy, expand trade and lower trade costs. Congratulations on your 97% implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement. Looking forward to working with you to further diversify your economy and your trade.