Title page
Contents
1. Overview 6
Message from Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala 8
In the spotlight 12
13th Ministerial Conference 12
Trade and climate change 16
Global trade developments and outlook 18
World trade success stories 22
Our year 26
2. What we stand for 32
Fundamental principles 34
A brief history 36
3. What we do 40
Main areas of work 42
Joining the WTO 44
Trade negotiations and discussions 50
Implementation and monitoring 78
Dispute settlement 132
Supporting development and building trade capacity 138
Outreach 156
In the Spotlight: Presidential Lecture Series 162
In the Spotlight: Public Forum 2023 166
4. Who we are 186
WTO Secretariat 188
Budget, finance and administration 198
How the WTO is structured 202
WTO Chairpersons (as of 31 December 2023) 203
WTO Senior Management 204
3. What we do 81
Table 1. Waivers under Article IX (decision-making) of the WTO Agreement 81
Table 2. RTAs (including accessions to existing RTAs) considered in 2023 125
Table 3. Disputes initiated in 2023 (requests for consultations) 133
Table 4. Panels established in 2023 134
Table 5. Disputes where parties agreed to resort to the MPIA in 2023 134
Table 6. Panel reports circulated in 2023 135
Table 7. Panel reports adopted in 2023 135
Table 8. Suspension/termination of dispute settlement proceedings in 2023 136
Table 9. Panel reports appealed in 2023 137
4. Who we are 195
Table 1. Allocation of posts by division, as of 31 December 2023 (number of posts) 195
Table 2. Consolidated budget for 2024 (in CHF thousands) 199
Table 3. WTO members' contributions to the consolidated budget 2024 (in CHF) 200
1. Overview 19
Figure 1. World merchandise trade volume and GDP growth, 2018-25 19
Figure 2. Year-on-year growth in world commercial services trade, 2022-23 20
Figure 3. World goods and commercial services exports, 2018-2023 20
Figure 4. Contributions to world trade volume growth by region, 2022-2025 21
3. What we do 83
Figure 1. Trade concerns raised at the CTG, 2019-23 83
Figure 2. Agriculture notifications submitted by WTO members, 2005 to 2023 88
Figure 3. SPS notifications and percentage of notifications submitted by developing economies (including LDCs), 2005-23 92
Figure 4. TBT notifications, 2005-2023 95
Figure 5. Initiations of new countervailing duty investigations, 1 January 2005 to end-June 2023 99
Figure 6. Initiations of new anti-dumping investigations, 1 January 2005 to end-June 2023 101
Figure 7. Initiations of new safeguard investigations and application of new final measures, 2010 to 2023 (for all WTO members) 102
Figure 8. Environment-related notifications, 2005 to 2022 121
Figure 9. RTAs notified to the GATT/WTO (1948 to 2023) by year of entry into force 124
Figure 10. Trade coverage of import and export measures introduced between mid-October 2022 and mid-October 2023 (US$ billion) 128
Figure 11. Cumulative trade coverage of import-restrictive measures on goods since 2009 129
Figure 12. Disputes initiated, and original panels established, 1995 to 2023 133
Figure 13. Aid for Trade commitments and disbursements by income group (in US$ billion, 2021 prices) 143
Figure 14. Aid for Trade disbursements by continent (in US$ billion, 2021 prices) 144
Figure 15. Technical assistance activities by region in 2023 151
Figure 16. Overall participation by region of origin 151
Figure 17. Users registered for email alerts by occupation, as of end-2023 170
Figure 18. Percentage growth in the number of followers of the WTO on social media platforms 171
4. Who we are 190
Figure 1. WTO staff on regular budget by grade and gender, as of 31 December 2023 190
Figure 2. Percentage of WTO staff by professional/support category 191
Figure 3. WTO Secretariat organizational chart, as of May 2024 192
Figure 4. WTO staff on regular budget by member and gender as of 31 December 2023 193
Boxes
Box 1. SPS measures relating to food safety, animal health and plant health 93
Box 2. Technical requirements affecting trade in all products 97