Tag: Multilateral trade agreements - tralac trade law centre

What does the National Security Exception in GATT mean?

11 Jul 19 Blog

The World Trade Organization (WTO) regime is rules-based. One of the implications is that the Member States can only invoke exceptions that are expressly provided for; national mea...

Joint Statement of the Coordinators’ Meeting on the Implementation of the Follow-up Actions of the FOCAC Beijing Summit

28 Jun 19 News

To jointly advance the implementation of the follow-up actions of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Beijing Summit, Coordinators from the People’s Republic of ...

An Update on the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement and African countries

21 Feb 19 Publications

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) defines trade facilitation as the simplification, modernization, and harmonisation of export and import processes. Trade facilitation at the WTO ...

The continued relevance of S&DT in favour of Developing Members to promote development and ensure inclusiveness

20 Feb 19 News

Communication from China, India, South Africa and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, for discussion at the Formal Meeting of the WTO General Council on 28 February 2019 Th...

WTO Members discuss progress and assistance on Trade Facilitation Agreement’s 2nd year

15 Feb 19 News

World Trade Organisation (WTO) members took stock of progress in implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) at the 12-13 February meeting of the Committee on Trade Facilit...

African Group Statement: Informal WTO Ministerial gathering at WEF 2019

05 Feb 19 News

This statement is circulated by H.E. Minister Rob Davies to the informal WTO Ministerial gathering in Davos on behalf of Benin, as the Coordinator of the African Group. The t...

76 countries launch WTO talks on e-commerce

25 Jan 19 News

At the World Economic Forum in Davos today, 76 countries – the European Union and 47 other members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) – decided to start negotiations to put ...

An undifferentiated WTO: Self-declared development status risks institutional irrelevance

17 Jan 19 News

Communication from the United States In the preamble to the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, the Parties recognized that “their relations in the fi...

Second Regional Dialogue on WTO Accessions for the Greater Horn of Africa: Djibouti Outcome

18 Dec 18 News

Trade for Peace through WTO Accessions Introduction The Second Regional Dialogue on WTO Accessions for the Greater Horn of Africa took place in Djibouti from 3 to 6 December 2018...

The Buenos Aires G20 Meeting: Has Rules-based global Trade survived?

11 Dec 18 Blog

The communiqué issued at the end of the Group of 20 meeting in Buenos Aires recently (30 November and 1 December 2018) reads like the to-do list for the world’s leading countrie...

Committees are cornerstone of pan-African trade dream, NTFC Forum hears

28 Nov 18 News

National trade facilitation committees can make the dream of seamless African trade a reality, experts tell Addis Ababa forum on easing the flow of goods on the continent. The dre...

Smooth African trade to tackle rising challenges: UNCTAD head

27 Nov 18 News

Competitive transport, logistics and foreign investment are essential to ease intra-African commerce and reap rewards of new deal, meeting hears. Smoothing the way for African tra...

Billions more people must benefit from trade gains, experts say

20 Nov 18 News

A global system that leaves the top 1% as rich as the bottom 56% is overdue for reform, with women’s economic exclusion among the highest priorities. While some countries and so...

WTO members adopt roadmap for reducing technical barriers to trade

19 Nov 18 News

WTO members achieved a breakthrough at a 14-15 November meeting of the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) by agreeing on a list of recommendations that aim at reducing ...

Regional Integration as a building block for the Multilateral Trading System

18 Nov 18 Blog

The signing of the Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) by African countries earlier this year was a momentous decision which could potentially alter the economic growth traje...

Assuring Continuation of Effective WTO Dispute Settlement

18 Nov 18 Blog

Until the past few years, for many there was widespread complacency over the existence and state of the liberal world trading system. If progress was needed that could not be achie...

A WTO multilateral investment facilitation agreement: An African perspective

18 Nov 18 Blog

Investment at the WTO Investment was introduced onto the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agenda in 1996 at the First WTO Ministerial Conference held in Singapore, when member state...

WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement: An African perspective

18 Nov 18 Blog

Trade facilitation discussions at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) began in December 1996, at the Singapore Ministerial Conference, when the member states instructed the WTO Coun...

The Settlement of Trade Disputes: Where do we stand and what can be done?

18 Nov 18 Blog

The crisis in the dispute settlement arrangement of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has a paralysing effect on the multilateral trade system. While the workload of the Dispute S...

Joint statement of the 7th EU-South Africa Summit

16 Nov 18 News

EU-South Africa Summit: Strengthening the Strategic Partnership At the 7th European Union-South Africa Summit held in Brussels on 15 November 2018, Leaders agreed on a number of s...