Trade policy is health policy, and WTO members have a unique responsibility to leverage the full force of trade to achieve better health outcomes around the world, according to Deputy Director-General Anabel González. In an article published on 17 March in Think Global Health Trade, a (...)
At a special event on 17 March to mark the 100th session of the Committee on Agriculture, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala praised the achievements of the Committee over the past 27 years and highlighted its important role in overseeing implementation of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture. (...)
At the 100th session of the Committee on Agriculture on 15-16 March, members examined multiple farm trade policies, updated information on the impact of COVID-19 on agri-food trade and adopted the report of the triennial review of the Nairobi Decision on export competition. While continuing to (...)
World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala today warmly welcomed the breakthrough among four WTO Members on a waiver of the Trade Related Intellectual Property agreement for the production of vaccines against the COVID-19 (...)
The trade for peace agenda was taken for granted for years and it took a group of fragile and conflict affected countries to recall that trade can and should play a role in promoting peace and stability, said Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang on 15 March. Speaking at the World Bank (...)
At meetings of the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) on 8-11 March, WTO members discussed accreditation and digital solutions for product certification and set up a new working group on transparency. The committee also addressed 80 specific TBT-related trade concerns raised by (...)
The WTO’s 2022 Public Forum, to be held from 27 to 30 September, will look at how trade can contribute to post-pandemic economic recovery. The Forum will examine in particular how trade rules can be strengthened, and government policies improved, to create a more resilient, sustainable and (...)
The renewed collaboration between the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) aims to ensure a safe, strong, inclusive and sustainable COVID-19 recovery in the aviation (...)
WTO members shared experiences in the digital sphere and discussed operationalizing the services waiver for least-developed countries (LDCs) at a meeting of the Council for Trade in Services on 11 March. They agreed to review exemptions to the WTO non-discrimination principle and also raised (...)
Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang welcomed 32 interns from developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) at a ceremony launching two ten-month WTO internship programmes on 11 March. The Netherlands Trainee Programme and the French-Irish Mission Internship Programme will give (...)