World Trade Organization members during a Nov. 21-22 meeting of the Committee on Agriculture agreed to set up a new work program to tackle food security concerns of least-developed countries and net food-importing developing countries, the WTO announced. The decision effectuates a mandate in the 12th Ministerial Conference's Ministerial Declaration on the Emergency Response to Food Insecurity. Committee Chair Marcel Vernooij was appointed coordinator to facilitate the discussions under the initiative, the WTO said. Members also deferred until the next committee meeting in March the decision on the first triennial review of the operation of the Bali Tariff Rate Quota Decision.

World Trade Organization members held the first of two knowledge building workshops as part of its preparations for the second wave of fisheries subsidies negotiations, the WTO said. The program included presentations from domestic authorities charged with implementing the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies and experts from various international organizations. Presenters gave an overview of the key parts of the agreement and "best practices for and challenges in implementing the Agreement." Other agreements discussed curbing subsidies that lead to overcapacity and overfishing, including the issue of special and differential treatment, the WTO said.

All World Trade Organization members should join the negotiations over an Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement, Columbia University's Karl Sauvant said in a Nov. 21 submission on the International Economic Law and Policy Blog. Sauvant laid out three reasons completing and adopting this agreement is important.

World Trade Organization members began talks Nov. 18 on a range of e-commerce issues under its e-commerce work program, including on the best "way forward" for the e-commerce duty moratorium agreed to during the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference in June (see 2206170010). Ambassador Usha Dwarka-Canabady, facilitator for the e-commerce work program, said there's a "sense of engagement from all members" on the moratorium and other e-commerce issues.

Ministers of the Pacific Islands Forum called on World Trade Organization members to ratify and implement the agreement on fisheries subsidies (see 2209300018) "as soon as possible," according to a joint statement. The statement was issued the same day as a meeting between the WTO and the Pacific Islands Forum in which the two sides agreed to continue cooperating on fisheries subsidies and "other key issues," the WTO announced. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that the Pacific countries' voice "was heard loud and clear" at the U.N. COP27 Climate Change Conference and that future WTO work can help "deliver on the Pacific's priorities."

Correction: The World Trade Organization published the agenda for the Nov. 28 meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body (see 2211180037).

The World Trade Organization published the agenda for the Nov. 28 meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body. It includes U.S. status reports on the implementation of recommendations adopted by the DSB 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. A status report also is 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.

World Trade Organization members agreed during the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Committee Nov. 9-11 meeting "on the process for undertaking the work programme" to address challenges on the implementation of the Agreement on the Application of SPS Measures, the WTO said. The member countries committed to working together on assessing the impact of emerging challenges and trade concerns in applying the agreement. Challenges included population growth, climate change, new technologies, innovation, and pest and disease pressures. In June, WTO members adopted the SPS Ministerial Declaration, which mandated the establishment of the work program and reporting of the program's findings at the 13th Ministerial Conference, set to be held some time between December and March.

World Trade Organization members mulled over five regional trade agreements at the Nov. 14 meeting of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements, the WTO said. The agreements are between South Korea and Turkey, for services, and between Kenya and the U.K., the U.K. and Israel, the U.K. and Egypt, and the U.K. and Mexico, for goods.

World Trade Organization members informally met Nov. 10 to talk about revising the multilateral trade organization and expectations for how any changes can be carried out, the WTO said. Switzerland's ambassador to the WTO, Didier Chambovey, said that the talks were "constructive" and that more efforts would be made to "deliver meaningful WTO reforms" for all members. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said she was "impressed by the level and seriousness of Members' engagement and the substantive exchanges."