Comoros has made "substantial progress" towards its accession to membership in the World Trade Organization, member nations noted during the Oct. 5 meeting of the Working Party on the Accession of the Union of the Comoros to the WTO. At the meeting, a delegation from Comoros affirmed its intent to sign the protocol of access at the 13th Ministerial Confernece, which will be held in February 2024.
The World Trade Organization's Chief Economist Ralph Ossa dropped his outlook for world trade growth by over half for the remainder of the year, predicting that world merchandise trade volume growth will be at a 0.8% rate instead of a 1.7% rate. Issuing a report on Oct. 5, Ossa noted that the outlook for 2024 remains steady and "relatively strong." For next year, trade growth is expected to sit at 3.3% -- a slight bump from previous estimates of 3.2%.
The EU's decision to open a countervailing duty investigation on electric vehicle batteries from China lacks sufficient evidence and violates World Trade Organization commitments, China's Ministry of Commerce said Oct. 4, according to an unofficial translation. The ministry characterized the move as "naked protectionism."
World Trade Organization members participating in the e-commerce negotiations concluded a series of meetings Sept. 29, making progress in the areas of privacy, information and communication technology products, and telecommunications services, the WTO announced. Members established a small group for text-based talks on development issues.
North Macedonia accepted the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Government Procurement, queuing up the deal to enter into force in the country Oct. 30, WTO announced. The agreement will ensure that North Macedonia receives new market access opportunities while liberalizing its own procurement market, WTO said. North Macedonia will become the agreement's 49th member. The deal defines commitments related to procuring entities; the goods, services and construction services now open to foreign competition; the "threshold values above which procurement activities will be open to foreign" bidders; and exceptions to the agreement, WTO said.
The World Trade Organization will host a virtual event Oct. 11 at 7 a.m. EDT covering trade-facilitating measures pertaining to product rules of origin. Tanzania's Elia Mtweve, current chair of the Committee on Rules of Origin, will open the event, which will discuss "initiatives being implemented to simplify rules of origin and facilitate compliance with origin requirements," WTO announced. Also speaking will be WTO member government representatives, international organization officials and academics.
World Trade Organization members, meeting Sept. 27-28, swapped views on how to ramp up transparency on other members' agricultural measures. Members of the Committee on Agriculture suggested "streamlining and simplifying the current export subsidy notification requirements" and mulled over a proposal from the committee chair to specifically address transparency, WTO said.
Costa Rica submitted an application to start talks on joining the Government Procurement Agreement 2012, the World Trade Organization announced. Costa Rica's trade minister, Manuel Tovar, said that joining the agreement "would open new government procurement markets for our country" and also "add legal certainly and support to the participation by Costa Rican suppliers in government procurement procedures abroad." The application is based on "open competition, transparency and non-discrimination," Costa Rica noted. Costa Rica would be the first Central American country to join the deal.
World Trade Organization members conducted an "informal retreat" at the trade body's headquarters Sept. 25-26 to talk trade and industrial policy as part of a broader reform discussion, the WTO said. The members emerged with three primary themes: "policy space in support of industrialization in developing countries including least developed countries; industrial subsidies -- opportunities and challenges for the global trading system; and the way forward." WTO members' senior officials will meet Oct. 23-24 to hand their negotiators "political direction" ahead of the 13th Ministerial Conference, which is set for Feb. 26-29.
The World Trade Organization opened registration for interested parties to attend the dispute panel proceedings in the EU's case against the U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties on ripe olives from Spain. The panel's "substantive meeting" will run from Oct. 25-26. Applications to attend a live screening of the event must be received by Oct. 10.