BY YANET FANTAYE WOGAYEHU – The value of total goods and commercial services trade in 2023, at US$ 30.4 trillion, was close to record highs, according to the annual report of the World Trade Organization released on Tuesday.
“…Despite trade tensions, political uncertainty, and shocks like COVID-19, world trade has been remarkably resilient in recent years… Merchandise trade volumes at the end of 2023 were 6 per cent above their pre-pandemic peak in 2019, while the value of commercial services trade was up 21 per cent between 2019 and 2023 – and by more than 50 per cent for trade in digitally-delivered services,” the report stated.
“The future of trade is services, digital, green – and it must be inclusive.” This Annual Report describes how, over the course of 2023 and through to our 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi in February 2024, the WTO and its members moved forward on all these fronts, helping build the enabling environment for trade’s evolution in the years ahead. “At the same time, members left key business unfinished – notably on fisheries subsidies and agriculture.”
In her message WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said: “On agriculture, however, despite the sector’s importance for employment, incomes and food security, we were unable to achieve a breakthrough. This was disappointing, but work continues in Geneva to find a path towards reforming the WTO agriculture rulebook.”
“The WTO continued its efforts to enable developing economies to take advantage of international market opportunities, including through the Aid for Trade initiative, targeted supply-side support via the Enhanced Integrated Framework and the Standards and Trade Development Facility, and capacity support through the Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation. At MC13, together with the International Trade Centre, we launched the Women Exporters in the Digital Economy (WEIDE) Fund to help women tap into international market opportunities in the digital economy.”
The WTO’s latest trade monitoring report showed that, in 2023, members introduced more trade-facilitating than trade-restrictive measures on goods unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic up to mid-October, a period marked by multiple crises affecting the global economy, including inflation and rising geopolitical tensions. However, many restrictions on food, feed and fertilizers remained in place.