The Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Roberto Azevêdo, called for transparency regarding the Trade-related policies introduced to combat coronavirus as the WTO steps up monitoring of the trade implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a message issued on Tuesday (24.03.2020) calling on all members to submit information to the WTO Secretariat on recent trade and trade-related measures, DG Azevêdo drew particular attention to the policies that members had implemented in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
«The current COVID-19 pandemic represents an almost unprecedented health crisis, and members are understandably responding by introducing legislation and policies to try to combat this health emergency.", wrote.
«These include trade-related measures, such as Export measures and economic support programs«.
The Directorate General requested members to provide the Secretariat with information on their COVID-19 policies with trade implications, emphasizing that What they submit would be used for transparency purposes only.
The request was part of a long-standing exercise in which the WTO Secretariat compiles regular reports on trade-facilitating and trade-restrictive measures introduced by members of the Group of 20 leading economies, as well as by WTO members as a whole.
The next trade monitoring report will analyse measures taken between October 2019 and mid-May 2020., according to the WTO.
The monitoring exercise has previously highlighted trade measures taken in the context of health emergencies, particularly in relation to the H1N1 influenza outbreak in 2009-10.
Regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, Azevêdo stressed the importance of transparency regarding trade-related measures, arguing that it would be particularly helpful for many countries that rely on imports of medical supplies.
More broadly, the DG established a Secretariat-wide expert working group to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on trade flows and the broader global economy.
Some of the findings of the WTO working group to be published next month.
.@WTODGAzevedo requests WTO members to share information on trade measures related to COVID-19 https://t.co/nQkVnMzHQ8 pic.twitter.com/sVg9zwQxa8
— WTO (@wto) March 24, 2020
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