From experimenting with new negotiating formats to thinking ‘outside the box’ in agriculture subsidy matters, Geneva is buzzing with new ideas on trying to break some long-standing negotiating deadlocks.
World Trade Organization
WTO’s Okonjo-Iweala sees food security as top priority
“The world is in a difficult place,” said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Speaking at the opening session of the annual World Trade Organization public forum in Geneva, the institution’s director-general called on policy-makers “to think of policies to restore growth”.
WTO reform talks: dispute settlement, appeals come into focus
WTO dispute settlement system reform discussions are getting off to a timid start. This comes as decisive alternative appeals arbitration panels are gradually coming on stream in Geneva.
WTO Corner: TRIPS waiver, e-commerce, food security, 1st MPIA appeal?
Welcome back to our WTO Corner column! WTO members have begun follow-up work on some of the commitments set out in the so-called ‘Geneva package’ agreed at MC12 back in June. By Chris Horseman and Iana Dreyer.
G7 trade ministers put onus on multilateral trade reform
G7 trade ministers pledged to “revive and reform the rules-based multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core” but remained vague in promises to further help Ukraine on the trade front in its war against Russia.
South Africa files case against EU citrus import measures at WTO
A last little present for the August holidays brought to us from the southern hemisphere. South Africa requested consultations today with the EU in Geneva regarding measures applied mid July which add extra precautionary measures on its citrus fruit shipments from overseas. The measures are taken prima facie to avert …
Interview: WTO needs members’ pragmatism to succeed
The World Trade Organization needs to function in a more flexible and pragmatic way in order to deliver its potential economic benefits – with ad hoc solutions working better, in some circumstances, than the application of rigid rules. This is the view of Keith Rockwell, who for almost three decades …
WTO Corner: A post-MC12 summer blues
Hopes of capitalising on the momentum delivered by the successful WTO ministerial meeting in June to make swift progress on the various follow-up topics arising from MC12 appear to be receding.
Arbitrators issue first post-Appellate Body report in Geneva
Appeal arbitrators issued the first ruling that follows the demise of the Appellate Body in late 2019 at the World Trade Organization. The format and content of the award give an initial indication of what the future of WTO dispute settlement might be.
Dealing with unfinished business: the WTO’s fisheries subsidies agreement
The highest-profile political achievement at last month WTO’s ministerial conference in Geneva – a multilateral agreement on curbing fisheries subsidies – is also about to become one of the organisation’s most urgent dossiers for renewed attention.
