Proposals for this year’s Public Forum — entitled “Re-globalization: Better Trade for a Better World” — must be submitted by 14 June 2024. Individuals interested in organizing sessions at the Forum, to be held on 10-13 September, are invited to complete an online application (...)
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on 3 June met with the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Almaty and addressed the second Central Asia Trade Policy Forum during the first leg of her visit to three countries: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. In Almaty, (...)
WTO members met at Heads of Delegation level on 30 May for their first formal meeting on dispute settlement reform, with an initial focus on how to resolve issues regarding appeal/review and accessibility. The facilitator of the process, Ambassador Usha Dwarka-Canabady of Mauritius, said the (...)
The chair of the Council for Trade in Goods, Ambassador Clare Kelly of New Zealand, informed members on 28 May that, following written procedures, there was agreement on the chairpersons for 13 of the subsidiary bodies that report to the (...)
WTO members participating in the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform (FFSR) initiative discussed how to make progress on concrete action steps outlined in the 2024-2025 work plan at a meeting held on 28 May. This work programme, adopted at the 13th Ministerial Conference in February, covers three key (...)
A new WTO publication launched on 28 May looks into the challenges of combating illicit trade in food and food fraud and discusses the role the WTO could play in helping to address this issue. At the launch event, leaders from business and international organizations and other trade experts (...)
The call for research papers has opened for the second World Trade Congress on Gender, to be held at the WTO on 24-27 June 2025, under the theme “Gender Equality and Innovation — the Keys to Sustainable Trade”. Jointly organized by the WTO, the WTO Gender Research Hub and UN Women, the second (...)
A customs valuation workshop taking place in Geneva from 22 to 24 May brought together 26 government officials from developing and least-developed WTO members. The participants benefited from guidance on preparing their government’s pending notifications to the WTO Committee on Customs Valuation (...)
At a meeting of the Committee on Agriculture on 23-24 May, WTO members reviewed the progress of various issues under the Committee’s work mandate, as well as high-interest topics such as food security, technology transfer and transparency. Members also continued the regular peer review of each (...)