The need for reform should be evident to all, top WTO officials says.Ottawa—Two years have passed since Canada and 12 other countries formed the Ottawa Group to promote reform of the World Trade Organization to protect international trade rules. On the surface they don't have a lot to show for their efforts but insist progress is being made.The group has recently advanced a proposed WTO Trade and Health Initiative, which identifies short-term actions to strengthen supply chains and ensure the free flow of medical supplies, says Trade Minister Mary Ng.She meets regularly with counterparts from the other Ottawa Group countries to discuss efforts to modernize the WTO. Among the issues they're working on are e-commerce, keeping agrifood markets open and predictable and trade and environmental sustainability.It was the decision of the Trump administration to neuter the WTO's trade adjudication ability that placed the organization in its current quandary. Trade expert Peter Clark says the incoming Joe Biden team will have a big say in the WTO's future effectiveness.“Biden is a protectionist so it really puts pressure on the Europeans and others to take the lead,” he said. “It will be hard to do anything at the WTO without US support.”The federal government has assembled a large team under Steve Verheul, Assistant Deputy Trade Minister and head Canadian negotiator for the CUSMA, to work with the other Ottawa Group members on WTO reform.That topic got a big push last months from WTO Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff in a call to WTO members to launch serious engagement on improving the trade body because there is enough common ground to reach major new agreements.“All WTO members, regardless of size, have a valuable contribution to make and that they should be listened to,” he said. “But it is also true that those who are the largest trading nations have greater capacity to analyse, to propose, to influence outcomes.”The WTO's negotiating function is largely dormant, its dispute settlement function isn't working and it doesn't conduct “all the analyses that would enable more effective administration of the world trading system. It initiates no proposals,” he said.“There has been too little positive engagement among the major members. No senior official, in any government examining this issue, would fail to see the deficiencies that exist,” he said.It's time for all countries to consider how to improve on the WTO. “The substantive collective response, in terms of determining what measures are needed to spur trade and to curb trade restrictions, has been absent.”While the Paris Accord on climate change “has been in effect for some time now, the trade aspects of addressing this challenge have not been met with any updating of the world's trading rules.”While the WTO remains highly relevant to the operation of the global economy, with over 80 per cent of world trade conducted under its terms, the institution is sadly out of date with respect to having rules fit for the modern digital economy.The other Ottawa Groups members are Australia, Brazil, Chile, European Union, Japan, Kenya, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore and Switzerland.Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.