The World Trade Organisation invited me as part of a press junket to cover the annual WTO Public Forum. I arrived in Switzerland feeling a mixture of excitement and depression. I was impressed by what human ingenuity can achieve in organising society, while also wondering whether African countries could ever achieve a similar level of technical expertise and sophistication. Suddenly, home felt less attractive.
The WTO communications team provided adequate travel options from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the organisation’s headquarters. Geneva has a highly functional public transport network that combines trams, buses, trains and boats, which run consistently every 10 to 15 minutes. This made my transit across the city smooth and less frantic than what I am used to.
It made me think about how Geneva had built an integrated transport system while, in my own country, similar ambitions remain largely unrealised policy intentions. “If only South Africa could build infrastructure like this; if only the whole of Africa could be like this,” I thought.
During my week in Geneva, I opted to make the 19-minute walk from my hotel to the WTO offices in the mornings. I have rarely felt so safe walking through a city during the hustle and bustle of peak times. The disparity in security between the streets of Geneva and the streets of Johannesburg was a pleasant culture shock.
Geneva’s part-of-daily-life cycling culture impressed me. I saw a young black woman cycling, presumably to work. It seemed like a scene from a futuristic movie where neighbourhoods are safe, nature and modernity are sustainable and the standards of living are elevated. At the same time, news reports from South Africa were dominated by the discovery of yet another body found in a suspected serial killer case in which 10 women have reportedly been killed. The number has since risen to 11.
I buried myself in the WTO policy discussions as my mind became set on systems thinking and the possibilities it contains for Africa. Much of the discussion at the Public Forum was a form of subliminal policy talk that I have become accustomed to as a journalist. Policymakers, business leaders, civil society representatives and government officials grappled with the appropriate language and frameworks needed to find common ground among the WTO’s 166 members and, crucially, to translate that into practical action.
Beneath the technical discussions was a much bigger question about the survival of multilateralism. The WTO is increasingly perceived by some as outdated or even at risk of becoming obsolete, as it struggles with deadlocked negotiations, rising unilateral trade measures and concerns about imbalances between wealthy nations and developing economies.
WTO officials, however, insisted that the organisation remains the preferred platform for global trade. It oversees a substantial 77% share of global trade, while 22 countries have applied to join. The Global South’s trade output has increased significantly over the past three decades, from 22% to 45%.
As I listened to the policy discussions, it became clear that the stakes are high and the tension palpable. Global trade was on the brink of collapse, continuing the status quo or reaching new levels of growth. The WTO’s response was adaptation and reform. Several officials suggested that the WTO was, in some respects, suffering from its own success.
Founded in 1945 as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade — the first global trade treaty — the organisation was built around the idea that greater economic interdependence could help promote peace, stability and mutual growth.
But the geopolitical conditions under which the system operated have changed significantly as economic power has become more distributed. During the Public Forum, several officials referred to the rivalry between the United States and China as the “elephant in the room”. Others invoked the familiar warning that when elephants fight, it is the ants that suffer. In this case, the ants are developing countries in the Global South, particularly those in Africa.
Unsurprisingly, the World Trade Report 2026, launched during the forum, noted that Africa’s contribution to global trade remains below 3%, trailing significantly behind Europe, Asia and North America, which collectively account for more than 85% of total world merchandise trade.
Africa’s overwhelmingly poor performance made me wonder whether there is hope for the continent. Will it ever transition to an advanced economy? When will Africa’s voice carry weight in efforts to resolve geopolitical tension?
The few instances in which Africa is mentioned in the report suggest that the continent has been uncompetitive and its economic indicators barely register as a going concern, as advanced economies' focus is on whether they are on the brink of an AI revolution or moving towards an economic bubble burst. The economic disparity is so wide that alignment between the Global North and the Global South seems like an impossibility.
Nonetheless, there are opportunities for growth in Africa. During the forum, I learnt that in 2025, Africa recorded the fastest regional growth in services exports — 14%, suggesting that services trade is becoming an increasingly important source of export growth. As a result, WTO member countries are at loggerheads on whether to end the moratorium on e-commerce and institute a tariff on digital services such as software downloads, e-books and digital streaming.
Countries such as India and South Africa have argued for ending the moratorium on digital services, stating that the indefinite duty-free regime unfairly favoured developed countries and large digital companies. They argued that it could constrain developing countries’ efforts to build domestic digital industries and pursue industrialisation policies. The loss of tariff revenue to sub-Saharan African countries is estimated at $2.6 billion (R42.6bn). Sadly, research shows that 60% of small- and medium-sized enterprises lack the infrastructure needed to comply with the proposed customs requirements.
During a media sit-down with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, I was anxious to understand how she made sense of geopolitical tension and whether there was a pathway back to the road of interdependence, stability and mutual growth. I asked Okonjo-Iweala why it was important for her to state that “the founding logic of the system remains sound” during her speeches. What was so important about the system? Could that be the solution for Africa’s woes?
Okonjo-Iweala explained that the differences between countries and multilateral trading systems were not fundamental. There was room for alignment. She added that countries needed a strong balance between competitive domestic policies and trade options to absorb economic shocks.
“That is why we say to countries that what you founded in the first place still makes sense,” she said.
This reinforced my resistance to pessimism when confronted with the scale and complexity of Africa’s challenges. It left me wondering what the world might look like if Africa could complete its regional integration project and make the transition to more advanced, competitive economies.
Hailed as the continent’s most ambitious economic integration initiative, the African Continental Free Trade Area has the potential to transform the continent and expand opportunities for its 1.4 billion people. By 2043, it is projected to increase continental income by 10% and add $6,4 trillion in business growth. However, the AfCFTA has struggled to move from treaty signing to implementation. It remains very far off from regional infrastructure harmonisation.
Global trade needs a more competitive Africa, not only for the continent’s prosperity but because a more economically integrated Africa could make a greater contribution to addressing geopolitical tension and building a more balanced global economy.