The United Arab Emirates formally accepted the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, making it the seventh World Trade Organization member to deposit its instrument of acceptance. The trade body requires a two-thirds threshold for the agreement to come into effect. The U.S., Canada, Iceland, Seychelles, Singapore and Switzerland previously accepted the agreement (see 2305100009).

Iceland is the sixth World Trade Organization member to accept the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, which needs acceptance from two-thirds of WTO members to come into effect. Iceland also agreed to donate over $562,000 to the WTO Fisheries Funding Mechanism, which provides technical assistance and capacity building to aid developing nations implement the agreement, the WTO said May 10. "Iceland has offered the world important lessons in sustainable fish stock management through successful policy reform, making their early support for the agreement and the funding mechanism especially valuable," WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.

Representatives from Chile and South Korea introduced the latest version of a draft agreement on investment facilitation for development during a May 4 plenary meeting after two days of consultations at the World Trade Organization. The WTO said the goal is to finish negotiations by mid-year.

The chair of the World Trade Organization's Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures urged all WTO members to submit missing subsidy notifications as soon as possible. Chair Sally Bardayan Rivera of Panama, during a May 2 meeting, said 88 members have yet to submit their 2021 notifications, which were due by the middle of 2021. Seventy-five members have not submitted their 2019 subsidy notifications, while 64 have yet to submit their 2017 notifications. "Eight delegations took the floor to urge members to step up their efforts and ensure both timely submission of notifications as well as complete notifications," WTO said.

World Trade Organization members during April 25-28 "Fish Week" talks showed a willingness to embark on text-based negotiations on fisheries subsidies talks, the WTO said. While the first Fish Week, held in March (see 2303270014), centered on what members wanted to see from the second phase of the talks, the second Fish Week looked at how these objectives would be achieved via bilateral consultations, small group meetings and two plenary meetings, the WTO said.

Canada became the fifth World Trade Organization member to formally accept the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, the WTO announced. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called the move a "further demonstration of Canada's strong commitment to ocean sustainability through the WTO's work on fisheries subsidies, as well as its commitment to the WTO system as a whole." She urged other WTO countries "to follow suit in activating this agreement that is so vital for protecting our oceans today and for generations to come." The agreement needs acceptance from two-thirds of WTO members for it to come into effect. The U.S., Switzerland, Singapore and Seychelles are the other nations that have accepted the deal.

World Trade Organization officials visited Baku April 27-28 to discuss the possible resumption of negotiations for the accession of Azerbaijan to the WTO. Although the WTO's working group on Azerbaijan's accession has not met since 2017, Azerbaijan's government "expressed willingness and readiness to re-engage with the accession process," the WTO said his week. Accession to the WTO continues to be an "important strategic goal" for Azerbaijan, the trade body said, adding that the country has worked to "modernize its legislative and regulatory frameworks in line with WTO norms, taking account of the specific issues raised" in past accession negotiations. Azerbaijan plans to "submit updated information" to the WTO "highlighting developments" since 2021.

The U.S. and South Korea reached a solution ending a dispute settlement case on the U.S. safeguard measure concerning imports of large residential washers, the World Trade Organization announced. South Korea said at the April 30 meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body that the U.S. brought its measure in line with the relevant WTO agreements. The U.S. claimed that while certain elements of the panel's findings were "disappointing and unbalanced," it allowed the report to be adopted, the WTO said.

The EU opened compliance proceedings against the U.S. stemming from its alleged "failure to comply with" the World Trade Organization ruling on its countervailing duties covering ripe olives from Spain, the EU's Directorate-General for Trade announced last week. The proceedings' first step involves a "request for consultations" at the WTO with the U.S. with the goal of "reaching a negotiated settlement." If this measure fails, the EU can request a compliance panel. If the panel confirms noncompliance, the EU will be allowed to take "further measures," the bloc said.

The World Trade Organization's Informal Working Group on Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises appointed Ambassador Matthew Wilson of Barbados its coordinator during an April 26 meeting, the WTO said. Also at this meeting, the working group discussed benefits of digitalization for small businesses, the role of intellectual property rights in facilitating access to financing for small businesses and how these companies grapple with sustainability standards, the WTO said.