India, March 27 -- The World Trade Organization's (World Trade Organization) 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) opened at the Palais des Congres, bringing together delegations from 166 member countries.

The opening ceremony set the tone for what is set to be discussed over the course of the conference, with reform of the WTO emerging as one of the key political questions alongside long-standing negotiating tracks.

At a basic level, the push for reform reflects long-standing institutional problems within the World Trade Organization, a paralysed dispute settlement system, repeated deadlocks in decision-making, and broader concerns around transparency and implementation of past decisions. In her opening remarks, Director-General Ngozi Oko...