World Trade Organization members recently agreed to establish "information-sharing sessions" as part of the WTO's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The idea stemmed from consultations held by Cambodia's Ambassador Kemvichet Long, chair of the WTO's Services Council. Discussions will cover the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on various service sectors, the trade-facilitative steps introduced by members and the pandemic's impact on less-developed countries.

Seychelles adopted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, making it the third country and first African nation to accept the deal. To take effect, the agreement requires adoption by two-thirds of WTO members. "Healthier seas and oceans are vital for the prosperity and resilience of Seychelles' fisheries and tourism industries. Seychelles' formal acceptance also signals the importance of the Agreement to Africa. I am hopeful this will pave the way for others in the region to follow suit," WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said March 10.

The Japanese Cabinet on March 10 greenlighted that nation's participation in the World Trade Organization's multiparty interim appeal arbitration (MPIA) agreement -- an alternative to the trade body's defunct Appellate Body (see 2303010026). The MPIA was initiated in April 2020 as a response to U.S. blocking the nomination process to the Appellate Body. The MPIA process released its first ruling in a dispute over Colombian antidumping duties on frozen fries from several EU countries (see 2212230025).

Meaningful outcomes at the World Trade Organization's 13th Ministerial Conference in February 2024 are "not beyond our reach," WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said at the first General Council meeting in 2023. Ambassador Didier Chambovey, General Council chair, during the meeting pointed to a host of issues as areas that can be addressed by MC13, including WTO reform efforts such as dispute settlement, negotiating and monitoring functions, and institutional issues.

The World Trade Organization on March 7 announced chairpersons for various WTO committees. Among the WTO bodies, the General Council will be led by Athaliah Lesiba Molokomme of Botswana; the Dispute Settlement Body will be led by Petter Olberg of Norway; the Trade Policy Review Body will be chaired by Saqer Abdullah Almoqbel of Saudi Arabia; and the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights will be headed by Pimchanok Pitfield of Thailand.

World Trade Organization Deputy Director-General Angela Ellard called on the EU to quickly ratify the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, saying it "would help us create significant positive momentum and encourage other members to expedite" their process. "We look to you, as leaders in the quest for a sustainable blue economy, to complete your ratification process and deposit the EU's instrument of acceptance quickly, and then to implement the agreement," Ellard said during a March 1 session of the European Parliment's Committee on International Trade. She said the WTO needs two-thirds of members to "accept it as soon as possible," noting that EU ratification would be "an important step." Ellard urged the EU to "say 'yes'" and "continue with your strong leadership in the second wave of negotiations."

The World Trade Organization's multiparty interim appeal arbitration arrangement (MPIA), an alternative to the defunct Appellate Body, proved to be "operational" after it ensured the right of parties in an antidumping duties dispute to appeal dispute panel reports and to receive a "final, binding ruling, without loopholes to block the process," Geneva Graduate Institute law professor Joost Pauwelyn said in a Feb. 27 blog post. Pauwelyn said MPIA led to the resolution of a recent dispute on frozen fries "without blockage," which preserved “the system's 'binding character and two levels of adjudication.'"

Global trade fared better than predictions for 2022 despite the disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine, the World Trade Organization reported in a Feb. 23 information note. Various industries were able to find alternative sources of supply for goods affected by Russia's invasion, including wheat, maize, sunflower products, fertilizer, fuels and palladium.

On the World Trade Organization's published agenda for the Dispute Settlement Body's Feb. 27 meeting are: U.S. status reports on the implementation of DSB recommendations on antidumping measures on certain hot-rolled steel products from Japan; antidumping and countervailing measures on large residential washers from South Korea; certain methodologies and their application to antidumping proceedings involving China; and Section 110(5) of the U.S. Copyright Act. Status reports also are expected from Indonesia on measures related to the import of horticultural products, animals and animal products, and from the EU on measures affecting the approval and marketing of biotech products.

Iceland's Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson, chair of the World Trade Organization's Negotiating Group on Rules, feels confident WTO members can meet the goal of finishing the second wave of fisheries subsidies talks by the 13th Ministerial Conference, which is set to take place in February 2024, the WTO said Feb. 20. Issuing his remarks after "positive consultations with over 30 delegations in recent weeks," Gunnarsson said he also will call four clusters of meetings, dubbed "fish weeks," to boost negotiations. The meetings will be held until July.