WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION's update

16 Oct 2023
Latest news

Dear maria CHADZIDAKIS VAVOURANAKIS,
Below are the news items published today on the WTO public website which match with your news preferences.


NEWS ITEM

Negotiators advance discussion on IFD Agreement integration into WTO legal structure

WTO members taking part in the negotiations on investment facilitation for development (IFD) have reached consensus on pursuing the plurilateral avenue for the incorporation of the IFD Agreement into the WTO legal architecture. Following the last round of talks on 11-13 October, members agreed to continue ongoing technical work — notably completing the final provisions of the Agreement — based on that option. The co-coordinators of the talks announced that three new participants have joined the initiative since the last plenary meeting in September: Bolivia, Niger and Tonga.

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NEWS ITEM

DG Okonjo-Iweala calls for enhanced efforts to boost access to trade finance

Speaking at the annual meeting of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 13 October, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala highlighted the importance of increasing access to trade finance for small businesses to assist their integration into global supply chains. She emphasized that trade finance plays a vital role in supporting inclusive participation in world trade and urged multilateral development banks to intensify their efforts to reduce the finance gap between demand and supply. The event was co-hosted by International Finance Corporation (IFC) Managing Director Makhtar Diop.

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NEWS ITEM

Members complete sixth Fish Week this year of fisheries subsidies negotiations

At the close of the sixth Fish Week of the year held on 9-13 October, the chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations, Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson of Iceland, lauded members’ efforts in completing the first line-by-line reading of the draft text on disciplines to curb fisheries subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing. The chair said that the resulting compilation of members’ suggested adjustments to the draft text should help members to analyse the remaining divergences and identify possible landing zones.

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NEWS ITEM

Aid-for-Trade monitoring and evaluation exercise gets under way

The Aid-for-Trade monitoring and evaluation exercise was launched by WTO members at a meeting of the Committee on Trade and Development on 9 October. The aim of the exercise is to shed light on the trade and development priorities of developing economies and to examine how development finance provided by partners is addressing these needs. The feedback will lay the groundwork for the next Global Review of Aid for Trade, scheduled for June 2024.

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NEWS ITEM

Members discuss improvements to service exports data in LDCs, COVID-19, WTO reform

WTO members explored the impact of COVID-19 on trade in health services and improvements in service exports data in least-developed countries (LDCs) at two events on 4 and 5 October organized under the Council for Trade in Services. At a Council meeting on 3 October, they discussed implementation issues from the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), including the LDC Services Waiver and e-commerce, and ways of improving the functioning of services bodies in the WTO.

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NEWS ITEM

WTO members embark on sixth “Fish Week” ahead of Senior Officials Meeting

WTO members on 9 October kicked off the sixth “Fish Week” of the year, marking the transition into the text-based phase of the negotiations aimed at developing disciplines on subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing. Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson of Iceland, chair of the negotiations, noted that negotiations are intensifying ahead of the Senior Officials Meeting at the WTO scheduled for 23-24 October as well as the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) to be held on 26-29 February 2024.

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NEWS ITEM

DDG Ellard highlights impact of technological developments on global trade

In a keynote speech at the 2023 Annual WTO Conference organized by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in London on 6 October, Deputy Director-General Angela Ellard outlined how technological developments are changing the face of international trade. She stressed the increased role of services, especially digitally-delivered services, in the global economy, and how new technologies have helped to facilitate trade and improve transparency. She also outlined the latest state of play in negotiations on updating WTO rules. The text of her speech is below.

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NEWS ITEM

Conclusion of first phase of advanced workshop on agricultural notifications

Thirty government officials from across the world completed on 5 October a three-day online workshop on agricultural notifications, the first phase of an advanced workshop involving both online and in-person participation. The training programme is being organised by the WTO’s Agriculture and Commodities Division (AGCD) in cooperation with the Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation (ITTC).

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NEWS ITEM

WTO members look into role of preferential rules of origin in expanding LDC trade

The role of preferential rules of origin in increasing trading opportunities for least-developed countries (LDCs) was the focus of the WTO Sub-Committee on LDCs on 5 October and an experience-sharing session held on the same day. Representatives from the private sector and academia highlighted the challenges and opportunities LDCs face in taking advantage of trade preferences.

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NEWS ITEM

E-commerce co-convenors call on negotiators to intensify efforts, exercise flexibility

Participants in the e-commerce negotiations wrapped up on 29 September a cluster of meetings where they made progress in bridging differences in some areas of the negotiations. With two more rounds of meetings between now and the end of the year, the co-convenors urged the negotiators to exercise flexibility and resolve as many substantive issues as possible to reach their target of substantial conclusion of the negotiations by the end of this year. “The parameters of what is possible are emerging,” they said.

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NEWS ITEM

Japan gives over CHF 55,000 to help LDCs engage in fisheries subsidies negotiations

Japan is contributing CHF 55,934 in 2023 to help cover the expenses of officials from least-developed countries (LDCs) in order to facilitate their in-person participation in the second wave of negotiations to curb harmful fisheries subsidies. The contribution is provided by Japan to the WTO Fisheries Subsidies Trust Fund that was created in May 2019 at the request of the WTO’s LDC members.

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NEWS ITEM

WTO members review farm policies, discuss food security, agri-food system resilience

At a meeting of the Committee on Agriculture on 27-28 September, WTO members reviewed each other's farm policies to ensure compliance with WTO disciplines. Food security was the main focus of discussions but members also addressed other topics, such as the interconnection between agri-food trade, technology transfer and protection of the environment. Participants exchanged views on ways to improve transparency on members’ agricultural measures and to enhance the overall functioning of the committee.

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