Tag: Multilateral trade agreements - tralac trade law centre

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...

Zimbabwe ratifies the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement: What does this mean for Zimbabwe?

23 Oct 18 Blog

On 17 October 2018, Zimbabwe deposited with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Secretariat its instrument of ratification of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA)[1], becoming...

tralac’s Daily News Selection

19 Oct 18 News

Ethiopia and Rwanda, this week, announced gender parity cabinets. The key Trade and Industry portfolio in both countries is now headed by a woman: Mrs Fetlework Gebregziabher and M...

Alan Wolff: “The importance of the rules-based multilateral trading system cannot be overestimated”

09 Oct 18 News

At a speech delivered to the University of the Western Cape in South Africa on 8 October, Deputy Director-General Alan Wolff highlighted the importance of trade as an engine of eco...

tralac’s Daily News Selection

01 Oct 18 News

Starting tomorrow, in Geneva: WTO Public Forum 2018. Under the main theme of Trade 2030, the Public Forum’s sub-themes will be sustainable trade, technology-enabled trade, and a ...

The Crisis in WTO Dispute Settlement

01 Oct 18 Blog

The effective functioning of the dispute settlement system of the WTO is essential for rules-based multilateral trade. It provides certainty and predictability and prevents power-b...

Alternative Dispute Settlement Procedures for Trade-related Disputes in Africa

01 Oct 18 Blog

African State are not active users of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The explanations point to Africa’s small share of global t...

WTO fundamentals are sound, but the architecture requires reform and modernisation for the 21st century global economy

01 Oct 18 News

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an indispensable multilateral institution. In its routine professional work, the organisation, staffed by top-class professionals, continues t...