WTO: WTO members review five regional trade agreements

WTO members review five regional trade agreements WTO members considered five regional trade agreements (RTAs) involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Azerbaijan, Georgia, Honduras, Hong Kong (China), Japan, the Republic of Korea, Moldova, Peru and Ukraine at the meeting of the Committee on RTAs on 27 July. The new chair of... Lees verder WTO members push for increased transparency on COVID-19 measures in farm trade At a meeting of the Committee on Agriculture on 28 July, WTO members posed a record number of questions about each other's farm measures. Australia and other members called for enhanced transparency on COVID-19 measures. In the subsequent information session dedicated to COVID-19, members heard... Lees verder WTO members stress role of IP system in fighting COVID-19 At the meeting of the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on 30 July 2020, WTO members highlighted the merit of the multilateral intellectual property (IP) system in incentivizing innovation in medical technologies and research and in enhancing the response of... Lees verder WTO members discuss cotton development assistance, impact of COVID-19 on cotton trade At a meeting of the Director-General's Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton on 30 July, the chair Deputy Director-General Alan Wm. Wolff reiterated the forum's mandate to ensure transparency of development assistance programmes for cotton and to improve the effectiveness of cotton projects.... Lees verder WTO members adopt report on food safety, animal and plant health, paving way for new work WTO members have adopted the Report of the Fifth Review of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), paving the way for the organization to tackle new work and continue existing activities related to food safety and animal and plant health. Lees verder WTO report draws attention to impact of COVID-19 trade disruptions on women Women are likely to be harder hit than men by trade disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the dangers are particularly acute in developing countries according to a new information note from the WTO Secretariat. The paper points to how governments' policy responses could address... Lees verder Online regional trade policy course for Caribbean countries under way The WTO has launched its first online Regional Trade Policy Course (e-RTPC) to ensure that capacity building continues to be provided to government officials despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty participants from ten Caribbean members are attending the e-RTPC from 10 August to 13 November 2020. Lees verder DDG Wolff: The future belongs to trade agreements of varying geometries The multilateral trading system, along with regional and bilateral trade agreements, all share the task of regulating global trade, Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff said on 11 August. Speaking at a virtual event organized by the American Association of Exporters and Importers on the question of... Lees verder WTO issues new report on how COVID-19 crisis may push up trade costs The WTO Secretariat has published a new information note warning of possible increases to trade costs due to COVID-19 disruptions. The note examines the pandemic's impact on key components of trade costs, particularly those relating to travel and transport, trade policy, uncertainty, and identifies... Lees verder Goods barometer confirms steep drop in trade but hints at nascent recovery World merchandise trade likely registered a historic fall in the second quarter of 2020, according to the latest reading of the WTO's Goods Trade Barometer, a real-time gauge of trends in global trade. Additional indicators point to partial upticks in world trade and output in the third quarter,... Lees verder