World Trade Organization Deputy Director-General Angela Ellard called on the EU to quickly ratify the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, saying it "would help us create significant positive momentum and encourage other members to expedite" their process. "We look to you, as leaders in the quest for a sustainable blue economy, to complete your ratification process and deposit the EU's instrument of acceptance quickly, and then to implement the agreement," Ellard said during a March 1 session of the European Parliment's Committee on International Trade. She said the WTO needs two-thirds of members to "accept it as soon as possible," noting that EU ratification would be "an important step." Ellard urged the EU to "say 'yes'" and "continue with your strong leadership in the second wave of negotiations."

The World Trade Organization's multiparty interim appeal arbitration arrangement (MPIA), an alternative to the defunct Appellate Body, proved to be "operational" after it ensured the right of parties in an antidumping duties dispute to appeal dispute panel reports and to receive a "final, binding ruling, without loopholes to block the process," Geneva Graduate Institute law professor Joost Pauwelyn said in a Feb. 27 blog post. Pauwelyn said MPIA led to the resolution of a recent dispute on frozen fries "without blockage," which preserved “the system's 'binding character and two levels of adjudication.'"

Global trade fared better than predictions for 2022 despite the disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine, the World Trade Organization reported in a Feb. 23 information note. Various industries were able to find alternative sources of supply for goods affected by Russia's invasion, including wheat, maize, sunflower products, fertilizer, fuels and palladium.

On the World Trade Organization's published agenda for the Dispute Settlement Body's Feb. 27 meeting are: U.S. status reports on the implementation of DSB recommendations on antidumping measures on certain hot-rolled steel products from Japan; antidumping and countervailing measures on large residential washers from South Korea; certain methodologies and their application to antidumping proceedings involving China; and Section 110(5) of the U.S. Copyright Act. Status reports also are expected from Indonesia on measures related to the import of horticultural products, animals and animal products, and from the EU on measures affecting the approval and marketing of biotech products.

Iceland's Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson, chair of the World Trade Organization's Negotiating Group on Rules, feels confident WTO members can meet the goal of finishing the second wave of fisheries subsidies talks by the 13th Ministerial Conference, which is set to take place in February 2024, the WTO said Feb. 20. Issuing his remarks after "positive consultations with over 30 delegations in recent weeks," Gunnarsson said he also will call four clusters of meetings, dubbed "fish weeks," to boost negotiations. The meetings will be held until July.

Co-sponsors of the World Trade Organization's Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade at a recent meeting discussed developments in efforts to reduce plastic pollution, the WTO said. The co-coordinators said the members' main goal in 2023 is to turn a host of technical information into "concrete, pragmatic and effective" outcomes at the 13th Ministerial Conference, set to take place in February 2024.

Countries participating in the negotiations on e-commerce at the World Trade Organization ramped up efforts to converge on various topics during the Feb. 13-16 meetings and are looking to wrap up talks by the end of 2023, the WTO said. Australia, Japan and Singapore -- the co-convenors of the negotiations -- also welcomed Kyrgyzstan as a new entrant to the talks. Eighty-eight countries are now participating in the e-commerce initiative.

World Trade Organization members decided Feb. 10 at a Trade and Development Committee meeting that the 2023-24 Aid for Trade work program will be focused on "Partnerships for Food Security, Digital Connectivity and Mainstreaming Trade," the WTO said. The committee also heard updates on activities meant to boost trade opportunities for developing countries.

Madagascar launched a safeguard investigation Feb. 11 covering concentrated milk, the country told the World Trade Organization's Committee on Safeguards. Along with the investigation, Madagascar imposed a provisional measure on concentrated milk imports. Parties looking to participate in the investigation should contact the National Authority Responsible for Trade Corrective Measures within 30 days from the start of the investigation.

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala voiced the WTO's support of the Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches, the WTO said. Speaking Feb. 9 at the forum's launch at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the DG said the global trade body is ready to aid the new initiative and ensure a wide group of stakeholders join together to address climate change.