World Trade Organization members reached consensus on incorporating the investment facilitation for development (IFD) agreement into the WTO's legal architecture via a "plurilateral avenue," the WTO announced. Members said that during the Oct. 11-13 negotiations, they agreed to complete the agreement's final provisions under that route and also announced that Bolivia, Niger and Tonga had joined the initiative since the plenary meeting in September.

World Trade Organization members wrapped up the sixth negotiation session on the second fisheries deal, dubbed the sixth "Fish Week," held Oct. 9-13 (see 2310100019), the WTO said. During the meeting, members held the first "line-by-line reading of the draft text," which covers tools to lower fisheries subsidies leading to overcapacity and overfishing. Iceland's Einar Gunnarsson, chair of the negotiations, urged members to encourage their senior officials to enter "full negotiating mode" during the Oct. 23-24 high-level meeting, which is scheduled to cover the "various streams of ongoing work at the WTO."

Timor-Leste is on track to complete its accession to the World Trade Organization by the 13th Ministerial Conference to be held in February 2024, WTO members said during the Oct. 11 meeting of the Working Party on the country's bid to join the global trade body. At the meeting, Timor-Leste said it was determined to settle the "outstanding technical issues, enact the few outstanding draft laws still required and conclude remaining bilateral negotiations" to wrap up accession by the February ministerial.

World Trade Organization members at an Oct. 3 meeting of the Council for Trade in Services discussed ways to boost the functioning of WTO services bodies, the global trade body said. Ahead of the 13th Ministerial Conference in late February, members discussed various suggestions, including adopting an e-Agenda, boosting substantive deliberations on trade in services issues and facilitating the engagement of external stakeholders.

Talks on the second fisheries agreement at the World Trade Organization entered into the text-based phase Oct. 9 during the start of the sixth "Fish Week" negotiating session, the WTO announced. The talks are meant to develop "disciplines on subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing," the WTO said. Negotiations between senior officials will be held Oct. 23-24, ahead of the 13th Ministerial Conference in late February, Iceland's Einar Gunnarsson, chair of the talks, noted (see 2309250017 and 2303270014).

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.