WTO
WTO talks on Trips waiver from June 30
World Trade Organization (WTO) members will on June 30 begin talks on the scope and coverage of the waiver of provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) agreement proposed by India and South Africa for Covid-related medicines.
At the informal meeting of the Trips Council on Thursday, it was also decided that other issues such as duration and implementation of the waiver will be discussed at a later stage depending on the first stage of talks, officials said.
Read:WTO to start Covid-19 vaccine supply negotiations amid clash on patents
Differences remain on how to ensure rapid and equitable access to vaccines and Covid-related medical products for all as the European Union and a few others are still opposing a revised proposal by India and South Africa seeking patent waivers on Covid-related medical products for three years, with a provision to review the duration annually.
“There was agreement on regular Trips Council sessions to push negotiations,” said an official.
The meeting was the first after the WTO members agreed to engage in text-based discussions on the proposal for waiver of intellectual protection rights for Covid medication.
At the Thursday meeting, the US expressed doubts about starting a discussion on the scope of the waiver instead of focusing on common objectives and said some proposals could be very expensive as they unfold over the next 5-10 years.
Read:WTO panel considers easing protections on COVID-19 vaccines
The discussions on the proposal will continue on July 6, 14 and 20 between which meetings among small groups would be held. The first consultation period will start soon, leading up to the first open-ended session and stock taking meeting on June 30.
The General Council of the WTO will check the progress of the negotiations on July 27-28, instead of July 21-22 as planned earlier, the official said.
EU seeks parity
The European Union, which has backed the use of flexibilities within existing frameworks such as compulsory licences instead of new ones, sought its submission to be treated on a par with the waiver proposal though India and South Africa argued that the two be discussed separately in parallel tracks.
“While the India and South Africa proposal is based on Article 9 of the WTO Agreement, what the EU has made is not a formal proposal. They can’t be treated equally,” said an expert on WTO issues.
Read:World trade primed for strong but uneven recovery after Covid-19 shock: WTO
South Africa argued that from the legal point of view of the discussions, the waiver proposal and the communication by the EU should be addressed on different tracks.
This article was first published on The Economic Times
WTO to start Covid-19 vaccine supply negotiations amid clash on patents
World Trade Organization members agreed on Wednesday to start formal negotiations on a plan to boost COVID-19 vaccine supply to developing countries, but face rival proposals – one with and one without a waiver of intellectual property rights reported The Indian Express.
South Africa and India, backed by many emerging nations, have been pushing for eight months for a temporary waiver of IP rights on vaccines and other treatments. This could allow local manufacturers to produce the shots, something the proponents say is essential to redress “staggering” inequity of supply.
Also read: WTO panel considers easing protections on COVID-19 vaccines
Developed nations, many home to large pharmaceutical companies, have resisted, arguing that a waiver would not boost production and could undermine future research and development on vaccines and therapeutics.
The European Union presented a plan, backed by Britain, Switzerland and South Korea, that it argues would more effectively broaden supply. Existing WTO rules, it says, already allow countries to grant licences to manufacturers even without the patent-holder’s consent.
WTO members agreed to begin discussions on June 17 to determine the format of negotiations and to produce a report outlining their progress on the vaccine supply plan by July 21-22, when the WTO’s general council convenes, a Geneva trade official said.
“This is a major breakthrough – after eight months of stalling,” said Leena Menghany, global IP adviser for medical aid group MSF, which backs a waiver.
A surprise US shift last month to support a waiver heaped pressure on the opponents, but Washington trade officials appear to favour one limited to vaccines.
Also read: Australia says WTO should punish Chinese economic coercion
The waiver proposal from the emerging nations also includes diagnostics, therapeutics and medical devices. That proposal, whose text was revised in May, also sets a time span of “at least three years” and might allow a single WTO member to prolong it indefinitely.
The United States told delegates it was still reviewing the revised proposal, but its initial reaction was that it was only a modest change from the original, on which WTO members had not reached the required consensus.
It said discussions needed a “revised scope” and WTO members should focus on what actions might be needed to address vaccine supply and distribution specifically and on areas most likely to be accepted by others as soon as possible.
WTO panel considers easing protections on COVID-19 vaccines
Envoys from World Trade Organization member nations are taking up a proposal to ease patents and other intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines to help developing countries fight the pandemic, an idea backed by the Biden administration but opposed in other wealthy countries with strong pharmaceutical industries.
On the table for a two-day meeting of a WTO panel opening Tuesday is a revised proposal presented by India and South Africa for a temporary IP waiver on coronavirus vaccines. The idea has drawn support from more than 60 countries, which now include the United States and China.
Some European Union member states oppose the idea, and the EU on Friday offered an alternative proposal that relies on existing World Trade Organization rules. The 27-nation bloc said those rules currently allow governments to grant production licenses — such as for COVID-19 vaccines or therapies — to manufacturers in their countries without the consent of the patent holders in times of emergency.
At stake in the meeting is whether the various sides can move toward drawing up a unified text, a key procedural step that could unlock accelerated negotiations. Inside observers cautioned, however, that a major breakthrough was not expected.
Also read: The Latest: WTO: Develop vaccines in Africa, Latin America
Even optimistic supporters acknowledge an IP waiver could take months to finalize because of solid resistance from some countries and WTO rules that require consensus on such decisions -- meaning a single country among the 164 members could scuttle any proposal. Even if adopted, ratification would also take time.
Advocacy groups, emboldened by the support the United States announced last month, have increasingly pushed the plan and insisted it would not be as difficult to carry out as detractors would say.
Doctors Without Borders, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning humanitarian agency, faulted the European Union, Switzerland, Norway and other holdouts on the IP waiver idea Monday for employing alleged “delaying tactics.”
Pharmaceutical companies insist that an IP waiver could dampen the incentive for researchers and entrepreneurs to innovate and say vaccine-sharing by rich countries would be a much faster way to get shots to health workers and at-risk populations in the developing world.
Also read: World trade primed for strong but uneven recovery after Covid-19 shock: WTO
The World Health Organization has repeatedly inveighed against unequal access to vaccines, noting that rich countries scooped up supplies well in excess of the need of their own populations while developing countries have obtained only a small fraction of the doses so far distributed and injected worldwide.
More support easing vaccine patent rules, but hurdles remain
Several world leaders Thursday praised the U.S. call to remove patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help poor countries obtain shots. But the proposal faces a multitude of hurdles, including resistance from the pharmaceutical industry.
Nor is it clear what effect such a step might have on the campaign to vanquish the outbreak.
Activists and humanitarian institutions cheered after the U.S. reversed course Wednesday and called for a waiver of intellectual property protections on the vaccine. The decision ultimately is up to the 164-member World Trade Organization, and if just one country votes against a waiver, the proposal will fail.
The Biden administration announcement made the U.S. the first country in the developed world with big vaccine manufacturing to publicly support the waiver idea floated by India and South Africa in October. On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron embraced it as well.
“I completely favor this opening up of the intellectual property,” Macron said at a vaccine center.
However, like many pharmaceutical companies, Macron insisted that a waiver would not solve the problem of access to vaccines. He said manufacturers in places like Africa are not now equipped to make COVID-19 vaccines, so donations of shots from wealthier countries should be given priority instead.
Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca — all companies with licensed COVID-19 vaccines — had no immediate comment, though Moderna has long said it will not pursue rivals for patent infringement during the pandemic.
Also read: US tribe shares vaccine with relatives, neighbors in Canada
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored the urgency of moving fast now.
“On the current trajectory, if we don’t do more, if the entire world doesn’t do more, the world won’t be vaccinated until 2024,” he said in an interview with NBC while visiting Ukraine.
India, as expected, welcomed the move. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the U.S. position “great news.”
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio wrote on Facebook that the U.S. announcement was “a very important signal” and that the world needs “free access” to vaccine patents. But Italian Premier Mario Draghi was more circumspect.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country would support it. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the U.S. decision too.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office spoke out against it, saying: “The protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and must remain so in the future.”
Also read: US support behind vaccine patent waiver ‘monumental moment’ in Covid fight: WHO
A Merkel spokeswoman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said Germany is focused instead on how to increase vaccine manufacturers’ production capacity.
In Brazil, one of the deadliest COVID-19 hot spots in the world, Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said he fears that the country does not have the means to produce vaccines and that the lifting of patent protections could interfere with Brazil’s efforts to buy doses from pharmaceutical companies.
In closed-door talks at the WTO in recent months, Australia, Britain, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Norway, Singapore and the United States opposed the waiver idea, according to a Geneva-based trade official who was not authorized the discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Some 80 countries, mostly developing ones, have supported the proposal, the official said. China and Russia — two other major COVID-19 vaccine makers — didn’t express a position but were open to further discussion, the official said.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the 27-nation bloc is ready to talk about the idea, but she remained noncommittal and emphasized that the EU has been exporting vaccines widely — while the U.S. has not.
EU leaders said the bloc may discuss the matter at a summit that starts Friday.
Also read: US backs waiving intellectual property rules on vaccines
The pharmaceutical industry has argued that a waiver will do more harm than good in the long run.
Easing patent protections would eat into their profits, potentially reducing the incentives that push companies to innovate and make the kind of tremendous leaps they did with the COVID-19 vaccines, which have been churned out at a blistering, unprecedented pace.
The industry has contended, too, that production of the vaccines is complicated and can’t be ramped up simply by easing patent rights. Instead, it has said that reducing snarls in supply chains and shortages of ingredients is a more pressing issue.
The industry has insisted that a faster solution would be for rich countries to share their vaccine stockpiles with poorer ones.
“A waiver is the simple but the wrong answer to what is a complex problem,” said the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations. “Waiving patents of COVID-19 vaccines will not increase production nor provide practical solutions needed to battle this global health crisis.”
Intellectual property law expert Shyam Balganesh, a professor at Columbia University, said a waiver would only go so far because of bottlenecks in the manufacturing and distribution of vaccines.
Also read: EU medicine regulator starts rolling review of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine
Backers of the waiver say that expanded production by the big pharmaceutical companies and donations from richer countries to poor ones won’t be enough, and that there are manufacturers standing by that could make the vaccines if given the blueprints.
“A waiver of patents for #COVID19 vaccines & medicines could change the game for Africa, unlocking millions more vaccine doses & saving countless lives,” World Health Organization Africa chief Matshidiso Moeti tweeted.
Just over 20 million vaccine doses have been administered across the African continent, which has 1.3 billion people.
There is precedent: In 2003, WTO members agreed to waive patent rights and allow poorer countries to import generic treatments for the AIDS virus, malaria and tuberculosis.
“We believe that when the history of this pandemic is written, history will remember the move by the U.S. government as doing the right thing at the right time,” Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong said.
US backs waiving intellectual property rules on vaccines
The Biden administration is throwing its support behind efforts to waive intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines in an effort to speed the end of the pandemic.
United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the government’s position in a Wednesday statement, amid World Trade Organization talks over easing global trade rules to enable more countries to produce more of the life-saving vaccines.
“The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines,” Tai said in the statement.
But she cautioned that it would take time to reach the required global “consensus” to waive the protections under WTO rules, and U.S. officials said it would not have an immediate effect on the global supply of COVID-19 shots.
“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” said Tai. “The Administration’s aim is to get as many safe and effective vaccines to as many people as fast as possible.”
Also read: PVA bats for suspension of intellectual property rights on Covid jabs
Tai’s announcement comes hours after WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spoke to a closed-door meeting of ambassadors from developing and developed countries that have been wrangling over the issue, but agree on the need for wider access to COVID-19 treatments, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said.
The WTO’s General Council — made up of ambassadors — was taking up the pivotal issue of a temporary waiver for intellectual property protections on COVID-19 vaccines and other tools, which South Africa and India first proposed in October. The idea has gained support in the developing world and among some progressive lawmakers in the West.
Rockwell said a WTO panel on intellectual property was set to take up the waiver proposal again at a “tentative” meeting later this month, before a formal meeting June 8-9.
No consensus -- which is required under WTO rules -- was expected to emerge from the ambassadors’ two-day meeting Wednesday and Thursday. But Rockwell pointed to a change in tone after months of wrangling.
Also read: Senators to Biden: Waive vaccine intellectual property rules
“I would say that the discussion was far more constructive, pragmatic. It was less emotive and less finger pointing than it had been in the past,” Rockwell said, citing a surge in cases in places like India. “I think that this feeling of everyone-being-in-it-together was being expressed in a way that I had not heard to this point.”
Authors of the proposal, which has faced resistance from many countries with influential pharmaceutical and biotech industries, have been revising it in hopes of making it more palatable.
Okonjo-Iweala, in remarks posted on the WTO website, said it was “incumbent on us to move quickly to put the revised text on the table, but also to begin and undertake text-based negotiations.”
“I am firmly convinced that once we can sit down with an actual text in front of us, we shall find a pragmatic way forward,” that is “acceptable to all sides,” she said.
Co-sponsors of the idea were shuttling between different diplomatic missions to make their case, according to a Geneva trade official who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. A deadlock persists, and opposing sides remain far apart, the official said.
Also read: Covid-19 vaccines: Ex-leaders, Nobel laureates urge Biden to waive intellectual property rules
The argument, part of a long-running debate about intellectual property protections, centers on lifting patents, copyrights and protections for industrial design and confidential information to help expand the production and deployment of vaccines during supply shortages. The aim is to suspend the rules for several years, just long enough to beat down the pandemic.
The issue has become more pressing with a surge in cases in India, the world’s second-most populous country and a key producer of vaccines — including one for COVID-19 that relies on technology from Oxford University and British-Swedish pharmaceutical maker AstraZeneca.
Proponents, including WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, note that such waivers are part of the WTO toolbox and insist there’s no better time to use them than during the once-in-a-century pandemic that has taken 3.2 million lives, infected more than 437 million people and devastated economies.
More than 100 countries have come out in support of the proposal, and a group of 110 members of Congress — all fellow Democrats of Biden — sent him a letter last month that called on him to support the waiver.
Opponents say a waiver would be no panacea. They insist that production of coronavirus vaccines is complex and simply can’t be ramped up by easing intellectual property, and say lifting protections could hurt future innovation.
Senators to Biden: Waive vaccine intellectual property rules
Ten liberal senators are urging President Joe Biden to back India and South Africa’s appeal to the World Trade Organization to temporarily relax intellectual property rules so coronavirus vaccines can be manufactured by nations that are struggling to inoculate their populations.
The lawmakers, in a letter delivered to the White House on Thursday evening, wrote that Biden should “prioritize people over pharmaceutical company profits” and support the temporary waiver of the rules. A waiver could pave the way for generic or other manufacturers to make more vaccines.
The letter was led by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, along with Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Edward Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Raphael Warnock of Georgia also signed the letter.
“Simply put, we must make vaccines, testing, and treatments accessible everywhere if we are going to crush the virus anywhere,” the lawmakers say in the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press.
Also read: Covid-19 vaccines: Ex-leaders, Nobel laureates urge Biden to waive intellectual property rules
More than 100 nations support a temporary waiver, which could help vaccine manufacturing ramp up in poorer countries that are struggling to acquire vaccine supplies. The Biden administration has said it is studying the issue.
Opponents, including pharmaceutical companies, worry that it would set dangerous precedent in allowing scientists around the globe to copy American and European companies’ research — some of which was funded by the U.S. government — long before patents expire. The Trump administration had opposed calls for the waiver.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the lawmakers’ letter.
The lawmakers’ appeal to Biden came after a group of 170 former world leaders and Nobel laureates earlier this week sent a similar letter to Biden urging him to support a temporary waiver of the WTO’s intellectual property rules.
The coronavirus pandemic has killed nearly 3 million people worldwide, including more than 170,000 in India and more than 50,000 in South Africa, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Covid-19 vaccines: Ex-leaders, Nobel laureates urge Biden to waive intellectual property rules
More than 60 former world leaders and over 100 Nobel Prize winners Thursday called on US President Joe Biden to support a waiver of intellectual property rules for Covid-19 vaccines.
A waiver would boost vaccine manufacturing and speed up the response to the pandemic in the US and around the world, they said in a joint letter to Biden.
The letter specifically asks Biden to support a proposal from South African and India at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to temporarily waive intellectual property rules related to Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.
It calculates that at the current pace of vaccine production, the poorest nations will be left waiting until at least 2024 to achieve mass Covid-19 immunisation.
The signatories to the letter include former British prime minister Gordon Brown, former president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, former president of France François Hollande and Nobel laureates Professor Joseph Stiglitz, Professor Muhammad Yunus and Professor Francoise Barre-Sinoussi.
Also read: Funding for vaccine procurement earmarked in deals with WB, ADB: Dr Meerjady
Gordon Brown said, "President Biden has said no one is safe until everyone is safe, and now with the G7 ahead there is an unparalleled opportunity to provide the leadership that only the US can provide and that hastens an end to the pandemic for the world."
The former British prime minister also said an urgent temporary waiver of intellectual property rules at the WTO would help them ramp up the global supply of vaccines together with a global multi-year burden-sharing plan to finance vaccines for the poorest countries.
Professor Yunus said, "Big pharmaceutical companies are setting the terms of the end of today's pandemic, and the cost of allowing senseless monopolies is only more death and more people being pushed into poverty."
"We together urge President Biden to stand on the right side of history and ensure a vaccine is a global common good, free of intellectual property protection."
François Hollande said the extreme inequality in access to vaccines around the world has created an unbearable political and moral situation.
"If the US supports the lifting of patents, Europe will have to take on its responsibilities. In the face of this devastating pandemic, world leaders must prioritise the public interest and international solidarity."
Also read: South Asian Govts must ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines: AI
The leaders also called for the intellectual property waiver to be accompanied by the open sharing of vaccine know-how and technology, and by coordinated and strategic global investment in research, development, and manufacturing capacity, especially in developing countries.
The resulting vaccine inequality, the leaders warned, means that the US economy already risks losing $1.3 trillion in GDP this year, and if the virus is left to roam the world, the increased risk of new viral variants means even vaccinated people in the US could be unprotected once more.
The letter, which was coordinated by the People's Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of more than 50 organisations, warned that at the current global immunisation rate, it was likely that only 10% of people in the majority of poor countries will be vaccinated in the next year.
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi said, "We will not end today's global pandemic until rich countries – most especially the US – stop blocking the ability of countries around the world to mass-produce safe and effective vaccines."
Joseph Stiglitz said, "New mutations of the virus will continue to cost lives and upend our interconnected global economy until everyone, everywhere has access to a safe and effective vaccine. Intellectual property is the utmost artificial barrier to global vaccine supply."
World trade primed for strong but uneven recovery after Covid-19 shock: WTO
Prospects for a quick recovery in world trade have improved as merchandise trade expanded more rapidly than expected in the second half of last year.
According to new estimates from the WTO, the volume of world merchandise trade is expected to increase by 8.0 percent in 2021 after having fallen 5.3 percent in 2020, continuing its rebound from the pandemic-induced collapse that bottomed out in the second quarter of last year.
Trade growth should then slow to 4.0 percent in 2022, and the effects of the pandemic will continue to be felt as this pace of expansion would still leave trade below its pre-pandemic trend.
The relatively positive short-term outlook for global trade is marred by regional disparities, continued weakness in services trade, and lagging vaccination timetables, particularly in poor countries. COVID-19 continues to pose the greatest threat to the outlook for trade, as new waves of infection could easily undermine any hoped-for recovery.
"The strong rebound in global trade since the middle of last year has helped soften the blow of the pandemic for people, businesses, and economies," WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.
Also read: Okonjo-Iweala becomes first woman, African to lead WTO
"Keeping international markets open will be essential for economies to recover from this crisis and a rapid, global and equitable vaccine roll-out is a prerequisite for the strong and sustained recovery we all need."
"Ramping up production of vaccines will allow businesses and schools to reopen more quickly and help economies get back on their feet. But as long as large numbers of people and countries are excluded from sufficient vaccine access, it will stifle growth, and risk reversing the health and economic recovery worldwide," she said.
The Director-General added that trade through value chains has helped countries access food and essential medical supplies during the crisis.
"Manufacturing vaccines requires inputs from many different countries. One leading COVID-19 vaccine includes 280 components sourced from 19 different countries," she said. "Trade restrictions make it harder to ramp up production. The WTO has helped keep trade flowing during the crisis. Now, the international community must leverage the power of trade to expand access to life-saving vaccines."
Short-term risks to the forecast are firmly on the downside and centred on pandemic-related factors. These include insufficient production and distribution of vaccines, or the emergence of new, vaccine-resistant strains of COVID-19. Over the medium-to-long term, public debt and deficits could also weigh on economic growth and trade, particularly in highly indebted developing countries.
Also read: WTO, WHO chiefs for opening trade to ensure vital medical supplies
The forecast illustrates two alternative scenarios for trade. In the upside scenario, vaccine production and dissemination would accelerate, allowing containment measures to be relaxed sooner. This would be expected to add about 1 percentage point to world GDP growth and about 2.5 percentage points to world merchandise trade volume growth in 2021. Trade would return to its pre-pandemic trend by the fourth quarter of 2021. In the downside scenario, vaccine production does not keep up with demand and/or new variants of the virus emerge against which vaccines are less effective. Such an outcome could shave 1 percentage point off of global GDP growth in 2021 and lower trade growth by nearly 2 percentage points.
For the whole of 2020, merchandise trade was down 5.3 percent. This drop is smaller than the 9.2 percent decline foreseen in the WTO's previous forecast in October 2020. The better than expected performance towards the end of the year can partly be explained by the announcement of new COVID-19 vaccines in November, which contributed to improved business and consumer confidence.
The volume of world merchandise trade plunged 15.0 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2020 (revised up from -17.3 percent in October) as countries around the world imposed lockdowns and travel restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19. Lockdowns were eased in the second half of the year as infection rates came down, allowing goods shipments to surge back to near 2019 levels by the fourth quarter.
The impact of the pandemic on merchandise trade volumes differed across regions in 2020, with most regions recording large declines in both exports and imports. Asia was the sole exception, with export volumes up 0.3 percent and import volumes down a modest 1.3 percent. Regions rich in natural resources saw the largest declines in imports, including Africa (-8.8 percent), South America (-9.3 percent) and the Middle East (-11.3 percent), probably due to reduced export revenues as oil prices fell around 35 percent. In comparison to other regions, the decline in North American imports was relatively small (-6.1 percent).
Also read: WTO, WCO chiefs pledge joint efforts to facilitate trade in essential goods
In 2021, demand for traded goods will be driven by North America (11.4 percent) thanks to large fiscal injections in the United States, which should also stimulate other economies through the trade channel. Europe and South America will both see import growth of around 8 percent, while other regions will register smaller increases.
Much of global import demand will be met by Asia, exports from which are expected to grow by 8.4 percent in 2021. European exports will increase nearly as much (8.3 percent), while shipments from North America will see a smaller rise (7.7 percent). Strong forecasts for export growth in Africa (8.1 percent) and the Middle East (12.4 percent) depend on travel expenditures picking up over the course of the year, which would strengthen demand for oil. Meanwhile, South America will see weaker export growth (3.2 percent), as will the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), including certain former and associate Members (4.4 percent).
Okonjo-Iweala becomes first woman, African to lead WTO
Nigerian economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed Monday to head the World Trade Organization, becoming the first woman and first African to take on the role amid rising protectionism and disagreement over how the body decides cases involving billions in sales and thousands of jobs.
S Korea seeks continued support for top WTO post
South Korea has sought Bangladesh's continued support for Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee's bid for the post of Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Korean Foreign Minister Ka