WTO members taking part in a new initiative on trade and environmental sustainability provided their first comments on 19 July on possible elements for a joint statement which participants hope to issue at the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) later this year.
At a meeting of the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on 20 July 2021, WTO members agreed to continue consideration of the proposal for a temporary waiver of certain TRIPS obligations in response to COVID-19 and other related proposals. Members approved a...
The United States announced it is joining the negotiations on services domestic regulation at a meeting of the initiative's participants on 20 July. Over one-third (64) of WTO members are now working towards establishing new disciplines regarding licensing and qualification requirements and...
WTO members took note of trade facilitation commitments due to be implemented by year end at the 20 July meeting of the Committee on Trade Facilitation. Members also continued their work on the first review of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the WTO on 21 July hosted a High-Level Dialogue on "Expanding COVID-19 vaccine manufacture to promote equitable access", with the participation of senior policymakers, heads of multilateral agencies, vaccine manufacturers, development finance institutions,...
Participants in the negotiations on electronic commerce have secured agreements on additional elements of a future e-commerce agreement and are on course to achieve further substantial progress by the time WTO members gather for the organization's 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) later this year,...
At a meeting of all WTO delegation heads on 23 July, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called on members to bring focus and flexibility to intensive negotiations scheduled for the autumn so they can strike meaningful agreements in areas such as fisheries subsidies, agriculture and pandemic...
Global services trade remained sluggish in the first quarter of 2021, falling 9% year-on-year after posting a 21% decline for the full year of 2020 driven by continued weakness in travel services. New COVID-19 variants have further delayed the recovery of international travel; however, other...
The WTO Secretariat has circulated a meeting notice and list of items proposed for the next meeting, on 26 July 2021, 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...
