Trade monitoring
Trade in services
In 2009 the work in the Council for Trade in Services was reinvigorated by discussions of a number of services sectors and modes of supply, on the basis of new background notes produced by the WTO Secretariat. The notes are intended to capture the most relevant developments, from a trade perspective, that have occurred in key areas over the past decade. S even such papers were discussed in 2009, and another 13 will offer a basis for continued deliberations in 2010.
Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS)
The TRIPS Council carried out its regular work on promoting transparency of WTO members’ intellectual property systems and reviewing WTO members’ implementation of the TRIPS Agreement. It continued discussions on access to medicines for the poorest countries, biotechnology and technical cooperation, among other topics. The Council also exchanged information on and debated a number of issues raised by individual countries. It considered various aspects of innovation policy, in particular the role of university technology partnerships and innovation incubators, and heard a number of case studies. The Council also continued its discussions on climate change and tobacco control policies.
Relations with non-governmental organizations
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) received regular updates on WTO activities in 2016, including briefings on trade negotiations and other issues. They participated actively in the Public Forum, the WTO’s main outreach event with NGOs.
A message from the Director-General
As we enter the final quarter of 2011, the world finds itself again in a situation of financial turmoil. The positive signs of growth in the first part of the year have been clouded by the sovereign debt crisis and ensuing currency turbulence which have brought us to the edge of a new crisis. Trade growth has also slowed down in the closing months of 2011.
Forward by the Director-General
In the last few months trade has contracted more than at any time since the 1930s, reflecting the dramatic global economic downturn provoked in the first instance by the collapse of major financial institutions. Trade growth will be strongly negative this year and we are unlikely to see sustained economic growth until 2010. This adversity is severely testing the policy ingenuity of governments across the globe, and in today’s interdependent world, their willingness to make common cause in addressing shared challenges. Effective international cooperation and open markets are as vital today as they have ever been.
Trade monitoring reports
Five comprehensive reports on global trade developments in 2010 were prepared by the WTO Secretariat on behalf of the Director-General. Three of these reports, covering trade and investment measures taken by the Group of 20 (G-20) economies, were prepared jointly with the Secretariats of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OE CD) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The other two covered relevant measures taken by all WTO members and observers, and were discussed at TPR B meetings. The Director-General stressed at these meetings that the global crisis and the WTO’s trade-monitoring exercise underlined the importance of increased transparency for the smooth functioning of the multilateral trading system.