To tackle unemployment, informality and low productivity growth, a policy reorientation is needed in Latin America and the Caribbean. ILO economists Clemente Pignatti and Verónica Escudero discuss the potential opportunities that can be leveraged from active labour market policies in the (...)
The WTO Secretariat, in close collaboration with the Secretariats of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is convening a five-day workshop on Trade and Public Health in Geneva from 17 to 21 October 2016. Applications for this year’s (...)
Saint Kitts and Nevis has ratified the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), becoming the fifth Caribbean WTO member to do so. St. Kitts and Nevis deposited its instruments of acceptance with the WTO secretariat on 17 June.
Director-General Roberto Azevêdo visited Brazil this week to participate in the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) World Council, as well as in the ICC Brazil Business Day in São Paulo.This followed the ‘Trade Dialogues’ event with business representatives held in Geneva on 30 (...)
Most services negotiators supported a call from a number of WTO members to re-engage in developing new disciplines for domestic regulation in services at a meeting of the Working Party on Domestic Regulation on 16 June 2016. Some of the concerns raised by members at a meeting of the Trade in (...)
The WTO Secretariat has circulated a meeting notice and list of items proposed for the next meeting, on 22 June 2016, 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 (...)
World trade recorded a 1.1 per cent decline in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the previous quarter, and a 1.0 per cent decline compared with the same period last year, according to quarterly trade volume statistics jointly prepared by the WTO and the United Nations Conference on Trade (...)
Liberia has notified the WTO that its Parliament has ratified its Protocol of Accession, clearing the final hurdle for its WTO membership. According to WTO rules, Liberia will become a WTO member on 14 July, 30 days after its instrument of acceptance was deposited at the (...)
The Republic of Moldova has ratified the WTO’s revised Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), submitting its instrument of accession to the WTO Secretariat on 14 June. Starting next month, the country will benefit from new market access opportunities and other provisions under the (...)
At the Technical Barriers to Trade Committee meeting on 14-16 June 2016, WTO members discussed how complying with standards can promote trade in energy efficient products and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, they acknowledged the need for increased global cooperation on (...)