South Korea’s Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee has proposed the creation of global trade guidelines to reduce the fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Yoo held a videoconference with World Trade Organization(WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo on Tuesday and discussed possible responses to the coronavirus on the level of multilateral trade regimes. 

She raised the need to draw up guidelines for WTO member states to follow in order to swiftly restore global trade order and minimize the pandemic’s negative impacts on cross-border trade and investment. 

Referring to the guidelines Seoul earlier proposed to some countries and regional blocs,  focused on maintaining global supply chains and "essential" business-related exchanges, the Minister Yoo suggested that it will be meaningful to discuss their possible applications among WTO members.