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World Trade Organization — Latest news
  1. The WTO Secretariat has circulated a meeting notice and list of items proposed for the next meeting, on 26 April 2024, 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 called an “airgram”.
  2. The annual WTO workshop on incentive measures for technology transfer to least-developed countries (LDCs) under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) concluded in Geneva on 25 April. More than 50 participants from 19 LDCs and eight developed WTO members, as well as experts from intergovernmental organizations and academia, reviewed the state of play on this issue as a prelude to the TRIPS Council meeting on 25-26 April.
  3. The WTO’s Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices met on 24 April 2024 to review members’ latest notifications of new, amended or previously reviewed anti-dumping laws and regulations as well as reports on anti-dumping actions.
  4. South Africa has requested WTO dispute consultations with the European Union concerning certain aspects of the regime imposed by the European Union on the importation of South African citrus fruit. The request was circulated to WTO members on 24 April.
  5. Since the signing of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization on 15 April 1994, global trade has surged, reaching over US$ 30.4 trillion in 2023, a fivefold increase since 1995. At the same time, tariffs have declined markedly under the WTO, helping to reduce trade costs. This growth in trade has coincided with a significant decrease in poverty worldwide, indicating the impact of trade on supporting economic development and improving people’s lives.
  6. The sixth review of the trade policies and practices of Morocco takes place on 22 and 24 April 2024. The basis for the review is a report by the WTO Secretariat and a report by the Government of Morocco.
  7. At a meeting on 19 April, the Working Party on State Trading Enterprises examined notifications and heard calls for greater transparency. The Chair of the Council for Trade in Goods, Ambassador Adamu Mohammed Abdulhamid of Nigeria, presided over the meeting.
  8. On 19 April, the WTO circulated the panel report in the case brought by Australia in “China — Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duty Measures on Wine from Australia” (DS602).
  9. A four-day training course on Trade and Gender, which came to a close on 18 April, brought together 27 government officials from 15 Latin American and African WTO members. Participants welcomed the opportunity to enhance their skills in gender-responsive trade policymaking and share experiences for advancing women’s economic empowerment through trade in their countries.
  10. At its first meeting since the launch of the “Partenariat pour le Coton” at the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in February, the Steering Committee of the WTO-FIFA Cotton Initiative on 18 April pledged to intensify work to deliver concrete results for African cotton-producing countries, notably the Cotton Four (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mali) plus Côte d’Ivoire. They welcomed three new partners — Cotton Made in Africa (CmiA), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) — as members of the Steering Committee.