Search Result for : Roberto Azevedo

The Dollar Business Bureau The Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to discuss issues such as the proposed trade facilitation agreement (TFA) in services during her meeting with World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo on Tuesday in Geneva. The meeting assumes importance as it is being organised before the WTO’s ministerial conference to be held in December in Argentina. Once an official outline is decided for the ministerial conference, members are bound by WTO regulations to discuss only that and not initiate the new ones.  The other issues that would be taken up for discussions during Sitharaman’s meet at the organisation’s headquarters include finding a permanent solution for public stock holding of food grains for food security, subsidies on fishery and preparations for ...

PTI The WTO's trade facilitation agreement, which seeks to ease customs norms, has come into effect from Wednesday with its two-thirds members ratifying the pact. The TFA, which has been ratified by India, will give a boost to the global trade, which has been impacted due to slowdown in the world economy.According to experts, the agreement comes at a time when India's efforts to improve exports are gaining momentum."As the pact has come into force, the member countries who have ratified would now be required to ease customs barriers.It would help countries like India which are trying to push exports," said Biswajit Dhar, professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.The 164-member World Trade Organisation (WTO) in a statement said that a major milestone ...

The Dollar Business Bureau A senior trade delegation from the Indian Ministry of Commerce will soon visit Geneva to hold talks with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to negotiate and find the solution on food security. Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman underscored that the delegation will ensure that India's proposal for trade facilitation agreement (TFA) in services sector gathers momentum. Earlier, Sitharaman and WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo held a meeting during which the two brought out the food security issues. The Indian Commerce Minister underlined that the delegation will highlight both food security and services issues with the WTO. "The team which will be going to Geneva will also see that TFA in services is taken at various stages so that it ...

The Dollar Business Bureau Representatives of industry, including technology and online retail companies in India, on Wednesday discussed matters related to e-commerce and global trade with Roberto Azevedo, Director General of World Trade Organisation (WTO). The roundtable meeting, held in New Delhi, was organised by the industry representative body International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and attended by Sunil Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises and representatives of various companies such as Google, Paytm and Snapdeal. The issues discussed related to setting up standards for e-commerce industry, challenges pertaining to businesses dealings due to differences in national or regional norms, facilitating services trade and future of the world trading system. The meeting holds significance as developed member countries are pushing the trade body to initiate negotiations on an agreement on e-commerce in the ...

The Dollar Business Bureau    The process of agricultural trade reform started during the WTO conference at Doha in 2001 will be in jeopardy if members try to shift focus on new issues, Indian Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at the 10th ministerial conference of the global body in Nairobi. “The reform process which was started after the Uruguay Round in the form of the Doha Round appears to be in jeopardy. Negotiations have spilled over into Nairobi, which makes matters very complicated. The manner and haste with which important negotiating meetings are being convened does not inspire confidence,” Sitharaman said. Negotiations on reducing export subsidies, domestic support and import duties on agricultural products were part of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). ...

The Dollar Business Bureau The implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) — a proposed deal which seeks to ease cross-border transactions — is likely to benefit developing nations significantly, World Trade Organisation (WTO) has said. In its world trade report released on October 26, the global body said the enforcement of TFA can increase global merchandise exports by up to $1 trillion per annum, with the developing nations capturing more than half of the available gain. “The TFA could help developing countries diversify their exports, increase their involvement in global value chains, expand the participation of small and medium enterprises in international trade, help to attract more foreign direct investment, increase government revenues and reduce corruption,” WTO said in a ...

The Dollar Business Bureau As World Trade Organisation (WTO) misses its deadline of July 31, to deliver a work programme on the remaining issues of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), the WTO said that the result is very disappointing and should not become an obstacle to achieving outcomes at the WTO’s Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in December. Director-General Roberto Azevêdo told the WTO members that “This missed deadline does not represent a barrier to delivering in Nairobi – but it should be a wake-up call about our prospects for success.” Doha Development Agenda also known as the Doha round is a round of trade negotiations among the WTO membership with a fundamental objective is to improve the trading prospects of developing ...

The Dollar Business Bureau In a speech to the International Trade Centre (ITC) Joint Advisory Group on June 26, 2015, Director-General of World Trade Organisation Roberto Azevêdo, said that the WTO shares with the ITC — and the UN Conference on Trade and Development — “the responsibility to ensure that trade continues to play its full role in the development agenda, and in continuing to improve the lives of people around the world, in a very concrete and practical manner”. He went on to add, since its creation, the ITC has been a very valued partner of the multilateral trading system and lauded its work to improve the institutional environment for prospective exporters in developing countries. SMEs — which are central to ...