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.
WTO crisis and reform
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.
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.
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 …
Perspectives: The WTO survives, in limited form
Since a deal was reached at the World Trade Organization last Friday the trade policy community has been debating if has been achieved is only patching up the system or a good outcome that proves global deals can be reached. What is clear is that the WTO will never solve …
The WTO’s new ‘Geneva Package’: What’s been agreed?
WTO trade ministers have brought the institution’s 12th ministerial to a successful conclusion with a compromise deal on a package of measures on a TRIPS waiver, agriculture, fisheries and WTO reform. The deal, which has been christened the ‘Geneva Package’ by diplomats, also includes a 2-year extension of the existing …
‘Cautious optimism’ as WTO delegations make final preparations for MC12
WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said she is “increasingly cautiously optimistic” that an overall compromise deal can be reached on the various issues at stake at next week’s WTO ministerial conference, according to a WTO official. This assessment followed a ‘stocktaking’ meeting of the WTO’s ruling General Council on Tuesday …
Perspectives: There is no crisis of globalisation but governments might create one
The number of commentaries proclaiming the end of globalisation will probably increase. The expected difficulties of finding consensus at the WTO’s 12th ministerial conference next June will add to these arguments. Cross-border business in fact remains healthy. But uncertainty around future policy choices may have a corrosive effect.
WTO director-general pushes ahead with secretariat reforms
The World Trade Organization is pressing ahead with controversial plans to shake up the workings of its secretariat – even though many in Geneva remain nervous about the planned overhaul and what it will deliver. Management consultants McKinsey have been commissioned for a second time by the WTO’s Director-General, Ngozi …
US takes more conciliatory tone on WTO appeals
The United States is “prepared for deepened engagement” with other WTO members on the role of the Appellate Body and other questions relating to the functioning of the Organization, according to the country’s recently-appointed ambassador to the WTO, María Luisa Pagán. But she has refused to lift the US’s long-standing …
