Trade monitoring
Overview
The overall objective of the WTO is to help its members use trade as a means to raise living standards, create jobs and improve people’s lives. The WTO operates the global system of trade rules and helps developing economies build their trade capacity. It also provides a forum for its members to negotiate trade agreements and to resolve the trade problems they face with each other.
Annual Report 2024
This report covers WTO activities in 2023 and the early part of 2024. At the start of the report, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala reflects on the current challenges facing world trade and the role of the WTO in helping the world address these challenges. The report also covers the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference, which took place from 26 February to 2 March 2024.
What we stand for
Simple, fundamental principles form the foundations of the multilateral trading system. These principles have lain at the core of all WTO activities since its creation in 1995.
Who we are
The WTO is run by its member governments. All major decisions are made by the membership as a whole, either by ministers (who meet at least once every two years) or by their ambassadors or delegates (who meet regularly at the WTO’s headquarters in Geneva). Decisions are normally taken by consensus. The WTO Secretariat coordinates the activities of the WTO.
What we do
The WTO operates the global system of trade rules, guaranteeing WTO member governments important trade rights.
Aid for trade in Action
The transition to clean energy offers opportunities for developing economies and least-developed countries (LDCs) to exploit the export potential of this transition and to accelerate their growth prospects. The WTO-led Aid for Trade initiative provides significant support to these economies to help them develop their energy sectors and transition to clean energy. However, sustained support is required to ensure that firms benefit from the trade opportunities that will emerge as a result of the clean energy transition. This report highlights the role that Aid for Trade can play in mobilizing financial resources to deliver targeted assistance and to help developing economies unlock export opportunities created by clean energy. It also underlines the role of development partners in helping firms integrate into clean energy value chains by investing in the production of clean energy technologies, such as green hydrogen and solar power.
Conclusion
The clean energy transition is critical to achieve net zero goals and is a key element of most economies’ nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement, to keep global warming under a 1.5° Celsius threshold. The clean energy transition also has trade integration potential, as it helps to advance industrial development and addresses capacity constraints in energy generation capacity.
Acknowledgements
This publication was prepared by Visvanathan Subramaniam (Economic Affairs Officer, WTO) and Michael Roberts (Head of the Aid for Trade Unit of the Development Division, WTO), under the supervision of Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang and Taufiqur Rahman, Director of the Development Division. The publication was edited and reviewed by Anthony Martin and Helen Swain of the Information and External Relations Division.
Overview of the Aid for Trade initiative
The Aid for Trade initiative, led by the WTO, grew out of the 2005 WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Conference. Its aim is to help developing economies integrate into world trade by mobilizing additional development support to address supply-side capacity and trade-related infrastructure constraints in these economies. In 2006, the Task Force on Aid for Trade was constituted by the WTO Director-General to report to the General Council with recommendations on how to operationalize Aid for Trade.
Opportunities for trade integration in clean energy value chains
Nearly 40 per cent of anthropogenic GHG emissions are caused by burning fossil fuels to produce electricity (IEA, 2022b). Decarbonizing electricity generation is a critical step toward achieving net zero goals. Target 7.2 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls for a substantial increase in the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030 (UN General Assembly, 2015).
Executive summary
Energy generation infrastructure has long been identified by Aid for Trade stakeholders as requiring additional, predictable and sustainable financing to enable developing economies and LDCs to participate more fully in international trade. The energy sector is one of the largest recipients of Aid for Trade support, accounting for nearly 25 per cent of all disbursements (US$ 116 billion) over the 2010-21 period.
Report by WTO Secretariat
Located in the Horn of Africa, Djibouti is a least developed country (LDC) and has been classified by the World Bank as a lower-middle-income country. It had a gross national income per capita of USD 5,610 in 2020. Its geographical location, port infrastructure and political stability make it a major maritime hub and have prompted several countries to establish military bases there. Revenue from the bases and from port activities has fostered the emergence of a modern segment of the economy that coexists with a large informal sector. However, the high cost of production factors and the strong presence of public companies continue to hinder the country’s economic development. Given Djibouti’s narrow production base, international trade is fundamental for the country, which relies almost exclusively on imports to meet its domestic demand for most goods and some services. Thanks to the infrastructure (especially ports), re-exports far outstrip exports.
Report by Djibouti
The Republic of Djibouti is a State in the Horn of Africa, located on the Red Sea and bordered to the north by Eritrea, to the north-west, west and south by Ethiopia, and to the south-east by Somalia. The territory is delimited by 370 kilometres of coastline, the population is estimated to be 1 million and the country has no natural resources.
Trade Policy Review: Djibouti 2022
“Trade Policy Reviews" analyse the trade policies and practices of each member of the WTO. The reviews consist of three parts: an independent report by the WTO Secretariat, a report by the government, and the concluding remarks by the Chair of the WTO’s Trade Policy Review Body. The opening section - "key trade facts" - provides a visual overview of the WTO member’s major exports/imports, main export destinations, origins for its imports and other key data. This edition looks into the trade practices of Djibouti.