The Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN), represented by its President, Eng. Razan Zuayter, took the initiative to sign a statement opposing the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) activities and their negative impact on the agricultural sector, particularly on countries located in the south.

This move was led by The People's Coalition for Food Sovereignty (PCFS), in conjunction with the 12th Ministerial Conference of the WTO. It was named the World Day of Action against the World Trade Organization (November 30th), which aims to rally against WTO policies and its neoliberal agenda

Over its 26 years of existence, the WTO and its neoliberal framework have promoted the interests of big corporations including  a few global economic elites, which led to the  destruction of livelihoods and the environment, and reinforced the employment crisis unprecedentedly, in which 255 million people lost their jobs, nearly five times the number of jobs lost during the 2008 global economic crisis. Meanwhile, profits from big corporations continue to rise, and according to Oxfam in 2021, "the world's 10 richest men have seen their combined wealth increase by half a trillion dollars since the epidemic began."

Signatories believe  that the WTO played the role of the promoter and the enabler for corporations and the economic elite. Moreover, the promise of “a more prosperous, peaceful and accountable economic world” applies to  a few members of the global economic elite. While most of the world's economies are facing  poverty and inequality, while also suffering  from rising sea levels, rising temperatures and drought.

The signatories also consider that the biggest offence committed by the WTO against the agricultural sector was forcing poor and developing countries to open their economies to foreign goods and capital through international treaties, such as, General Agreement on Trade in Services(GATS) and the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), which flooded local agricultural production in addition to   imported agricultural products, resulting in further price reductions  and the destruction of the income and livelihoods of small farmers. Additionally, the imposition of tariff cuts and the removal of trade barriers have also destroyed national economies and productive forces, including domestic industries and agriculture