News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Thursday, December 2, 2021
The last-minute postponement of the WTO Ministerial Conference late last week, nominally the result of a change to Swiss COVID-19 related travel rules, was unfortunate. But it is also illustrative of an organisation in decline – and nobody can realistically be expected to come to the rescue.
Turkmenistan applies to join the WTO There are only a few more holdouts out there in the world which are not members of the world trade institution. Until recently the Central Asian country Turkmenistan was one of them. After its neighbour Uzbekistan made moves to accelerate its accession process to …
The final draft of a new WTO agreement on fisheries subsidies was submitted to trade ministers late on Wednesday (24 November), as officials in Geneva made their final push towards what would be the organisation’s first major multilateral agreement in more than 20 years.
The number of small developments related to the upcoming WTO 12th ministerial conference is growing exponentially, and it’s a genuine challenge to keep track of everything as there are so many moving parts. Here a selection – for today. Put together for you by the Borderlex Trio Rob Francis, Chris …
The expected outcomes from the coming 12th ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization will likely be disappointing overall. But members of the global trade institution still have the chance to make a difference – through showing genuine support for its role.
The world’s trade ministers will arrive in Geneva next week with a very full agenda of still-unresolved items in front of them – including the continuation of a longstanding moratorium on charging import duties on digital transactions.
With just one week to go until the start of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference, a new text for a draft ministerial declaration entitled Covid-19 and beyond: Trade and Health has been circulated to members. Beyond the contentious and well-publicised issue of the TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 related medical products, …
The success of the twelfth WTO ministerial conference in Geneva next week is currently poised “on a knife-edge”, in the assessment of WTO officials, with negotiations set to go to the wire on a number of key dossiers, write Chris Horseman and Rob Francis.
It’s been quite the day for World Trade Organization legal disputes. By Chris Horseman and Iana Dreyer.
The aims for an outcome on agriculture at the upcoming WTO ministerial conference have become clearer – and they can be summarised as ‘agree on limiting export restrictions, and agree to keep talking about everything else’.
