The government of France is contributing EUR 1 million (approximately CHF 969,957) to the WTO Fisheries Funding Mechanism to help developing members and least-developed country (LDC) members implement the landmark Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies adopted at the 12th Ministerial Conference in (...)
WTO members on 23 June acknowledged the importance of digital industrialization for economic growth, highlighting the measures needed to support this process, such as investing in digital literacy and strengthening the legal and regulatory framework underpinning the digital economy. The (...)
At meetings of the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) on 19 to 23 June, WTO members discussed regulatory cooperation on cybersecurity and on intangible digital products. They also aired a total of 68 trade concerns, 10 of which were raised for the first time, regarding digital (...)
A webinar held on 23 June under the auspices of the WTO Committee on Trade and Development explored how South-South trade and multi-party cooperation can help WTO developing economies address trade-related infrastructure constraints and boost their participation in global trade. “South-South (...)
On the occasion of the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023, the ILO’s Director-General, Gilbert F. Houngbo states that "a rapid recovery is only possible if sound foundations, built on decent work and social justice, are laid now as an essential precondition for (...)
“Let’s keep the momentum up”, stressed the co-conveners of the e-commerce negotiations — Japan, Australia and Singapore — at their latest meeting with WTO members participating in the negotiations from 19 to 22 June 2023. They urged negotiators to consider carefully how the initiative can achieve (...)
Speaking at a workshop on least developed countries’ (LDCs) participation in the multilateral trading system on 22 June, Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang said: “We all want the WTO to do more in helping LDCs become more active players in the multilateral trading system.” The purpose of this (...)
WTO members that are among the first 10 to formally accept the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement called on other members to do the same to ensure entry into force of the historic agreement for ocean sustainability. Ambassadors and high-level representatives of Canada, the European Union, Iceland, (...)
In her keynote address to the 13th World Chambers Congress in Geneva on 21 June, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the multilateral trading system works but that parts of it need reform. She also underlined the risk to global prosperity if trade fragments into rival blocs and reiterated (...)
Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala met with His Highness Sayyid Bilarab Bin Haitam Al-Said of Oman on 21 June at the WTO. Also present at the meeting were HE Qais Mohaammed Moosa Al Yousef, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, and a high-level delegation from the Sultanate (...)