WTO members welcomed the development outcomes from the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC13) at the meeting of the Committee on Trade and Development on 11 April, underlining their commitment to further engage on trade and development issues to boost the participation of developing economies in international trade.
Members also reviewed recent developments in regional trade agreements and preferential trade arrangements in separate sessions held on the same day.
Presenting a new report on the participation of developing economies in the global trading system, the WTO Secretariat noted that developing economies' trade in merchandise as well as in commercial services have recovered from the pandemic-related decline.
While some types of commercial services exports proved comparatively resilient during the pandemic, travel exports in 2022 still lagged behind their 2019 level. Developing economies continue to face challenges in their participation in international trade, such as a dependence on commodity exports and higher trade costs. Members continued discussing several submissions by the WTO's African Group on “policy space” for developing economies to promote industrial development. These fall within the framework of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures and the Agreement on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.
Members underscored the role of the WTO's deliberative function in deepening dialogue on policy space and the linkages between trade and industrial policy.
The Committee continued discussing a submission by the African Group that aims to reinvigorate the development aspects of e-commerce discussions within the WTO in line with the MC13 Decision on the E-Commerce Work Program.
Members highlighted that the Trade and Development Committee is an important forum for reviewing the trade-related challenges and opportunities for developing members in digital trade. Members underscored the importance of hearing from developing members about their priorities in e-commerce.
Following ministers' instructions from the MC13 Declaration, members discussed the role of the Committee in implementing the Ministerial Declaration from the 12th Ministerial Conference on the WTO response to the COVID-19 pandemic and preparedness for future pandemics.
The chair updated members on the status of the preparation of factual presentations of several regional trade agreements (RTAs) and preferential trade arrangements (PTAs) as required under the Transparency Mechanism for RTAs and the Transparency Mechanism for PTAs.
Members also took note of 44 notifications of instruments concluded under the 1980 Montevideo Treaty in 2022 by the member countries of the Latin American Integration Association.