The 15th meeting of the Working Party on the Accession of Azerbaijan to the WTO, held on 6 July after a six-year impasse, provided new impetus to the accession process, showing the renewed commitment of the Azerbaijani Government to joining the WTO. WTO members commended the reform efforts (...)
The WTO issued today (6 July) the 2023 edition of “World Tariff Profiles”, an annual publication providing comprehensive information on tariffs imposed on imports by over 170 countries and customs territories. The report — jointly prepared with the International Trade Centre and the United Nations (...)
The latest Annual Report from the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) issued on 6 July showcases how the STDF is learning from its past work to strengthen sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) capacities in developing countries in ways that will further improve its impact on (...)
Five regional trade agreements (RTAs) were considered by WTO members at the 5 July meeting of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements. Members also discussed how to enhance the functioning of the Committee, considering a new communication from (...)
Ivorian football star, Didier Drogba, has warned young, aspiring African footballers about the dangers of exploitation and human trafficking – part of a campaign run by the ILO, the International Federation of Professional Footballers’ Associations (FIFPRO) and the Didier Drogba Foundation. The (...)
G20 economies introduced substantially more trade-facilitating than trade-restrictive measures on goods between mid-October 2022 and mid-May 2023. However, several export restrictions on food, feed and fertilizers remained in place, compromising the predictable flow of food through (...)
Japan this week deposited its instrument of acceptance for the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, joining other leading marine fish catch producers in affirming support for the Agreement. Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Ambassador Kazuyuki Yamazaki of Japan met on 4 July to mark the (...)
The growth of developing economies’ services exports has exceeded the world average over the past two decades but more needs to be done to fully realize the contribution of services trade to development. This is one of the key messages of a new WTO-World Bank co-publication launched by the WTO (...)
Digitalization was a recurring theme in discussions at a meeting of the Informal Working Group on Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) on 3 July. Various organizations provided information on digital standards, the advantages of gaining the status of “authorised economic operator”, (...)
The WTO Secretariat has circulated a meeting notice and list of items proposed for the next meeting, on 30 June 2023, 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 (...)