At a meeting open to all agriculture negotiators on 30-31 March, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala urged WTO members to seek compromises to break the impasse in negotiations so as to make a positive contribution to global food security by the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in February (...)
Participants in the negotiations on e-commerce discussed development-related proposals and data flow issues at their 27-30 March meetings. Members sought convergence on several topics, with a call from the co-convenors of the negotiations — Australia, Japan and Singapore —for more flexibility, (...)
The WTO’s annual Public Forum, to be held from 12 to 15 September 2023, will focus this year on how trade can contribute to a greener, more sustainable future. The Forum will examine in particular how the services sector, digitalisation and inclusive trade policies can support global (...)
Participants in the WTO’s Information Technology Agreement (ITA) welcomed at a meeting on 29 March a request by Timor-Leste to join the ITA and the ITA Expansion Agreement. Members also discussed ITA trade concerns and heard a WTO Secretariat report on latest trends in global trade in (...)
In a keynote speech at the Future Trade Forum organized by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on 29 March in Singapore, WTO Deputy Director-General Anabel González commended businesses and workers worldwide for their contribution to keeping trade flowing despite multiple crises. (...)
At a meeting of the Agriculture Committee on 27-28 March, WTO members vowed to intensify their efforts to address the severe food security crisis, which is especially challenging for least developed countries (LDCs) and net food-importing developing countries (NFIDCs). Members were updated on (...)
Delivering a keynote speech at the Georgetown University Global Trade Academy in Washington DC on 28 March, Deputy Director-General Angela Ellard said the future of globalisation will be determined by services and digitization. We need to make sure, therefore, we have adequate rules regulating (...)
The Republic of Korea has informed WTO members that it is withdrawing its WTO dispute complaint regarding measures imposed by Japan affecting the export of products and technology to Korea. In its communication circulated to WTO members on 24 March, Korea said it would like to terminate the (...)
WTO members voiced their views on the outcomes they would like to see from the second wave of fisheries subsidies negotiations in meetings during the first of a series of “Fish Weeks” held on 20-24 March. The meetings pave the way for deeper discussions next month on the best approaches for (...)