![]() ![]() The principle of national treatment establishes that imported and locally produced goods and services should be treated equally after they have entered the market (or have gone through customs) of a given country. This principle has benefited developing countries because they were not left behind, even if they were not necessarily part of the negotiation of preferences among the big trade players. If a special favour – such as a lower customs duty rate – is offered to one country, the same should be done for all other WTO members. According to the former, countries cannot discriminate between their trading partners. It is based on two principles: the most favoured nation and national treatment. The idea of non-discrimination is the cornerstone of the system. One of its key objectives is to improve the trading prospects of developing countries. The ongoing Doha Round of negotiations has placed development at its centre. According to the agreement establishing the WTO, relations in the field of trade should be conducted with a view of ‘raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effective demand while allowing for the optimal use of the world’s resources in accordance with the objective of sustainable development’. The promotion of commerce and development are inextricably linked in the current multilateral trading system. This blog post provides a summary of the evolution of e-commerce in the WTO the current stage of discussions and the recent inclusion of a broad range of Internet policy topics, from network neutrality to data localisation, in the documents produced by member states. The second is the key importance of trade – including in its electronic format – for achieving the sustainable development goals ( SDGs). This has been recognised, for example, by the G20 Communiqué from the 2016 Hangzhou Summit, which, among other things, welcomed a proposal to create an Electronic World Trade Platform. The first is the perceived importance of innovation and the new digital revolution in fostering economic growth in the coming years. ![]() The topic is not an emerging issue at international level, but recent developments have renewed interest in it. In the same year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) launched its Action Plan for Electronic Commerce, a key framework guiding the activities of member states on this matter. African Digital Diplomacy and GovernanceĮ-commerce has been part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) agenda since 1998, following the Ministerial Declaration on Global Electronic Commerce.Kazakhstan was originally scheduled to host MC12 in June 2020, but the conference was postponed due to the pandemic. The Ministerial Conference, which is attended by trade ministers and other senior officials from the organization’s 164 members, is the WTO’s highest decision-making body, and is generally held every two years.Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, addresses the opening ceremony of the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 12, 2022.During the four-day meeting, members of the trade organization will hold discussions on such issues as TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) waiver for COVID-19 vaccines, pandemic response, fishery subsidies, agriculture, food security, as well as the WTO’s reform and its future work priorities.īuy Prime Test Series for all Banking, SSC, Insurance & other exams About the Conference: The 12th World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC12) opened at WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. ![]()
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