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 (...)
In a statement issued to mark May Day, ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, calls on workers, employers, governments, international organizations and all who are committed to building back better, to join forces to bring in a world of work with justice and dignity for (...)
The WTO Secretariat has circulated a meeting notice and list of items proposed for the next meeting, on 28 April 2021, of the Dispute Settlement Body, which consists of all WTO members and oversees legal disputes among them. The meeting notice is circulated in the form of a document officially (...)
At a meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) on 28 April, WTO members considered two requests for the establishment of dispute panels: one from Australia regarding Chinese anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Australian barley; and the second from Malaysia concerning European Union (...)
Missing notifications from WTO members outlining the subsidies they give to their enterprises continues to be an irritant in discussions in the WTO’s Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM). In a meeting on 27 April, the chair of the committee, Erik Solberg of Norway, once again (...)