Follow-up to outcomes of ministerial conferences

At the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) held in February 2024, ministers stressed that services generate more than two-thirds of global economic output and account for over half of all jobs. They also emphasized the importance of advancing work on trade in services at the WTO. Stemming from this, the Council agreed to hold an informal discussion on the WTO-World Bank report entitled “Trade in Services for Development”. The ministerial mandate on the WTO’s work on trade in services can be found in paragraph 18 of the MC13 Declaration.

Several members also expressed an interest in exploring the interplay between services trade and the green transition. The WTO’s Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States announced that it is working on updating the note entitled “Vulnerable ACP State services sectors impacted in the context of the COVID-19 Pandemic” submitted in 2021. A suggestion was made to hold a workshop on crisis preparedness in response to the MC13 mandate.

Participation of LDCs in services trade

The WTO LDC Group presented to the Council a new questionnaire that aims to assess how LDC services suppliers are working with consumers and enterprises, particularly in the member economies that have notified preferences for LDCs, with the aim of identifying the challenges they may face.

Members reaffirmed their commitment to increasing the participation of LDCs in global services trade in line with the MC12 Outcome Document and the MC13 Declaration. They reiterated their continued support for putting the Services Waiver into practice as a means of reaching this goal. The waiver was formalized by a decision adopted at the 2011 Ministerial Conference. Preferences for LDC services and service suppliers have been notified by 51 WTO members under the waiver. Members’ notifications can be found here.

A total of 35 WTO members are classified as LDCs.

Work Programme on E-commerce

Some members proposed that the Council complement the work done in the General Council’s dedicated discussions on e-commerce in light of its services-trade focus. Some of the issues suggested for discussion include trade in digitally delivered services, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and financial inclusion.

The importance of making digital trade more inclusive and of boosting the participation of developing economies in e-commerce was also highlighted.

Services trade concerns

Members discussed three previously addressed specific trade concerns involving cybersecurity measures and mobile applications, among other services-related topics.

Japan and the United States, supported by several other members, reiterated concerns about the cybersecurity measures of China and Viet Nam. China repeated concerns with certain services measures of the United States. China also reiterated its concerns regarding India’s measures in relation to mobile applications.

Trade in financial services

Crisis preparedness

In the Committee on Trade and Financial Services, Pakistan underscored the important role played by financial services in supporting crisis management frameworks. It stressed that the capacities of developing economies in this area should be reinforced, as mandated by ministers at MC13 (see paragraph 21 of the Ministerial Declaration). Members expressed readiness to look into ways of discussing this.

The Committee is one of the Services Council’s subsidiary bodies.

Facilitating electronic payments

Introducing a new proposal, China said that developing economies lack an effective infrastructure and regulatory framework to keep up with international organizations and governments in terms of making online payments more secure. Given that emerging technologies are heavily impacting international economic activities, China suggested a discussion on the WTO’s role in facilitating the expansion of electronic payments across economies.

The proposal will be discussed at the next Committee meeting in December.

Reducing the cost of remittance services

Members were unable to reach consensus on establishing a work programme on reducing the cost of remittance services in the Committee — as proposed by India in a communication dated 8 March — but there was support among members for exploring how the WTO can complement discussions in other international fora.

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