The first meeting of WTO members taking part in a new initiative aimed at advancing work on trade and environmental sustainability took place virtually on 5 March. Participants outlined their views on what the priority issues for discussion should be and what concrete outcomes could be (...)
Deputy Director-General Yonov Frederick Agah welcomed 36 new interns from developing countries and least-developed countries (LDCs) at a virtual ceremony on 5 March. The interns are taking part in the Netherlands Trainee Programme and the French-Irish Mission Internship Programme, allowing them (...)
At a meeting of the Council for Trade in Services on 5 March 2021, WTO members agreed to organize a virtual workshop to share information and experiences with least developed country (LDC) services suppliers and to raise awareness of the preferences notified by WTO members under the LDC (...)
Regional and multilateral integration through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and WTO membership can help to “knit together an African continent that has been forever fragmented,” Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff said on 4 March. Speaking at the Aswan Forum for Sustainable (...)
Participants in the talks on domestic regulation in services explored at a virtual meeting on 4 March equivalent disciplines in regional trade agreements, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The disciplines under negotiation at the WTO and the RCEP regulatory (...)
Parties to the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) initiated negotiations on 3 March on Brazil’s accession to the GPA at a virtual meeting of the Committee on Government Procurement. This was the Committee’s first meeting since Brazil circulated in February its initial market access offer, a (...)
The WTO Committee on Trade Facilitation on 3 March adopted a roadmap for the first ever review of progress made in implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). Under the Agreement, members committed to review the operation and implementation of the TFA four years from its entry into (...)
The third review of the trade policies and practices of Saudi Arabia takes place on 3 and 5 March 2021. The basis for the review is a report by the WTO Secretariat and a report by the Government of Saudi Arabia.
Mendy Lerato Lusaba, founder of the Domestic Workers Association of Zimbabwe and winner of the ILO Skills Innovation Challenge, has big plans to improve the life of domestic workers in her country. Read her story on our new Voices multimedia (...)