Ensuring access to essential medical goods during a pandemic, securing a global deal on prohibiting harmful fisheries subsidies and addressing the concerns of “graduating” least developed countries were among the topics discussed at the 5-6 May meeting of the WTO’s General Council. Members also (...)
New due diligence tool aims to help businesses uphold their responsibility to protect human rights at sea, as new COVID variants threaten to further delay crew changes.
WTO members must respond urgently to the need for a multilateral solution to ensure equitable access to vaccines worldwide, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala declared on 5 May, describing it as the “moral and economic issue of our time”. The WTO chief made her remarks at a meeting of the (...)
Online registration for the 2021 Public Forum is now open. The main theme for this year’s Forum, which will be held from 28 to 30 September, is “Trade beyond COVID-19: Building Resilience”.
At a meeting of the Informal Working Group on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), held on 4 May, WTO members discussed what the Group aims to deliver at the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) and explored new topics to help small business benefit from international trade. The Group (...)
The Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) released on 4 May three policy briefs recommending actions to boost the participation of least-developed countries (LDCs) in international trade. The briefs look at integrating trade into sustainable development strategies, using tourism to support (...)
Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala today (4 May) announced the appointment of Angela Ellard of the United States, Anabel González of Costa Rica, Ambassador Jean-Marie Paugam of France and Ambassador Xiangchen Zhang of China as her four Deputy (...)
Heads of WTO member delegations today exchanged views about issues on which they can realistically reach agreements in the run-up to the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) later this year, and what needs to happen to make such deals possible. Fisheries subsidies, agriculture and the COVID-19 (...)
Trade policy barriers such as tariffs and regulations account for at least 14 per cent of trade costs according to estimates from the WTO Trade Cost Index launched on 30 April. The index measures the cost of trading internationally relative to trading domestically, finding that the costs to (...)