WTO/ Trade and Environment Week – Participation by Franck Riester and his Dutch counterpart in a workshop on the fight against plastic pollution and the role of trade policy (video conference, 19 November 2020)

Franck Riester, Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, participated via video conference in a workshop hosted by the WTO on the fight against plastic pollution and the role of trade policy, alongside Sigrid Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands.

This event was organized at the initiative of France and the Netherlands within the framework of the WTO Trade and Environment Week, following on from the French-Dutch work on trade and its environmental and socio-economic consequences. It involved several international figures from the academic world, the private sector and civil society.

The ministers and panelists discussed the pollution associated with the use of plastic in global supply chains and their impact, the role of trade and its international rules in the organization of these value chains, and the WTO’s role in providing concrete responses to these challenges. The exchanges during this workshop will help enhance the French and European approach to environmental issues at the WTO, in the run-up to the next WTO Ministerial Conference in 2021.