WTO: Members discuss work plan at first meeting of Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender

Members discuss work plan at first meeting of Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender Members exchanged ideas on how to further advance their understanding of the links between trade and gender and how to approach trade issues with a "gender lens" at the first meeting of the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender on 10 December. Members also welcomed the release of the report by... Lees verder Members to continue discussion on proposal for temporary IP waiver in response to COVID-19 At the meeting of the Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on 10 December, WTO members agreed to continue discussion on a proposal by India and South Africa for a temporary waiver of certain TRIPS obligations in response to COVID-19. A status report will be... Lees verder DDG Wolff: "The WTO must not continue as it is" In remarks delivered to a 10 December Chatham House discussion regarding trans-Atlantic cooperation on WTO reform, Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff warned that maintaining the status quo at the WTO "can only lead to further disaffection" with the organization. In particular, if members fail to... Lees verder Report shows marked decline in trade restrictions by WTO members amidst COVID-19 pandemic The Director-General's latest annual overview of trade-related developments shows a marked slowdown in the number of trade-restrictive and trade-facilitating measures adopted by WTO members related to goods trade over the past year. The report, presented at a 11 December meeting of the WTO's Trade... Lees verder Package of declarations and recommendations adopted to help small businesses trade globally The Informal Working Group on Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) officially adopted at its meeting on 11 December a package of six recommendations and declarations aimed at addressing challenges smaller businesses face when they trade internationally. The package will be presented to... Lees verder DDG Wolff: "WTO accession has been a story of transformation" Speaking at the 9th edition of the China Round Table on WTO Accessions on 11 December, Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff said WTO accession has been key in providing new members with a vehicle to modernize and put their economies on a sustainable path of economic growth. Over the 25-year history... Lees verder Trade Policy Review Body — Trade Monitoring Overview of Developments in the International Trading Environment Remarks by DDG Yonov Frederick Agah Lees verder E-commerce co-convenors release update on the negotiations, welcome encouraging progress In a public statement on e-commerce negotiations released on 14 December, the co-convenors of the talks — Australia, Japan and Singapore — said the consolidated negotiating text, shared with participating members on 7 December, captures the encouraging progress achieved so far. They said the... Lees verder WTO issues compendium of GATT dispute settlement reports The new "GATT Dispute Settlement Reports" compendium brings together for the first time all dispute settlement reports issued under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1947 and related instruments, including the Tokyo Round plurilateral codes. The six-volume set compiles reports... Lees verder Items proposed for consideration at the next meeting of Dispute Settlement Body The WTO Secretariat has circulated a meeting notice and list of items proposed for the next meeting, on 18 December 2020, 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... Lees verder