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Peter Ungphakorn Profile picture
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Jan 26 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
Starting today: six “plurilateral” meetings in the WTO spread over two weeks

Plurilaterals = meetings/agreements among only part of the WTO’s membership

Some: also called joint-statement initiatives (JI⬇️)

Seen as the way ahead, but controversial

1/7 wto.org/english/news_e…
Today (Jan 26), tomorrow (Jan 27) and Tuesday (Feb 1)—Plurilateral on investment facilitation for development

(Why suddenly the need to call WTO discussions “structured”? Are any unstructured?)

2/7 tradebetablog.wordpress.com/2022/01/03/17-…
Today (Jan 26), tomorrow (Jan 27) and Tuesday (Feb 1)—Plurilateral on investment facilitation for development

Here’s the agenda for today and tomorrow

3/7
Friday (Jan 28)—Plurilateral on electronic commerce/digital trade

4/7 tradebetablog.wordpress.com/2022/01/03/17-…
Friday next week (Feb 4)—Plurilateral on Trade and Environmental Sustainability

Another one that feels the need to call its discussions “structured”

Bigger question, why not in the multilateral Trade and Environment Committee?

5/7 tradebetablog.wordpress.com/2022/01/03/17-…
The following Tuesday (Feb 8)—Plurilateral on Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

6/7 tradebetablog.wordpress.com/2022/01/03/17-…
A round-up + explainer: the 18 current WTO plurilaterals (16 active, 2 suspended)

• What are they?
• Where do they come from?
• What types are there?
• Why are they seen as the way ahead?
• Why are they controversial?
• What is each one about?

7/7 tradebetablog.wordpress.com/2022/01/03/17-…

• • •

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More from @CoppetainPU

Peter Ungphakorn Profile picture
Jan 27
JOB/GC/281 is here tradebetablog.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/walker…

See 🧵⬇️

And …

1/2
… and an explanation is here.

2/2 tradebetablog.wordpress.com/2021/11/26/wto…
PS. Feb 28 deadline (good luck with that ambassador @CastilloDacio)

Read 4 tweets
Peter Ungphakorn Profile picture
Jan 26
The situation in Switzerland will determine whether/when an in-person WTO Ministerial Conference can be scheduled.

What is the situation in 🇨🇭?

1/6
1. Case numbers continue to rise, but hospitalisations and deaths seem to have peaked and are a bit lower in 🇨🇭.

2/6 covid19.admin.ch/en/overview?ti…
2. Omicron is now almost 90% of cases detected in 🇨🇭. Does that partly explain why cases are still rising but hospitalisations and deaths have eased?

The vaccination rates are not great—68% with two doses, 38% boosted. Much better among over-65s.

3/6 covid19.admin.ch/en/overview?ti…
Read 6 tweets
Peter Ungphakorn Profile picture
Jan 25
TODAY: informal WTO General Council meeting, mainly on procedure

PURPOSE: chair @CastilloDacio reporting to the full membership on his consultations, Jan 18-19

TOPICS:
• If/when to hold the postponed ministerial conference
• WTO response to the pandemic
• How to proceed

1/6
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE NEW DATE?

Few keen on “virtual” meeting

DG @NOIweala: Secretariat looking at 3 options

1. Hold soon—no ceremony, businesslike, slimmed down
2. Medium (eg summer) possible
3. Long term, can prepare for it

Swiss amb. said COVID-19 in 🇨🇭 unpredictable

2/6
Chair @CastilloDacio said some members proposed a tentative date (“a window”) should be set to focus minds and keep up the momentum; others said that would be premature but members should keep up the momentum.

3/6
Read 7 tweets
Peter Ungphakorn Profile picture
Jan 17
Some thoughts on financing the BBC

How to assess the options—Licence fee? From tax? Subscription? Advertising?)

• business model only (“if it’s such value for money it can easily sell subscriptions”)
• public service (society as a whole benefiting)

Finance➡️Economics…

1/15
A couple of key concepts

• ECONOMIES OF SCALE. Eg news—from Radio Stoke to Westminster to BBC Washington Bureau to Pashtu Service (Afghanistan), reporters feed a central newsroom supplying multiple BBC outlets. Similar sharing in arts, music, documentaries, sport, more …

2/15
• EXTERNALITIES (positive), the public service dimension—when something (broadcasting) has a broader benefit than simply between the producer and consumer (more than just the viewer enjoying Newsnight or East Enders)

3/15 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externali…
Read 15 tweets
Peter Ungphakorn Profile picture
Jan 12
It’s not easy to separate issues, but I think the reaction to Monday’s @wto meeting has been overblown.

The main question: will an online meeting of ministers right now help break the deadlock over the intellectual property waiver?

Even some waiver-supporters said “no”.

1/4
Those who want an online meeting of ministers at this stage have to explain how they think it would help break the deadlock.

This ⬇️ is what happens in a virtual meeting of ministers from the whole WTO.

#TRIPSwaiver @DimitriEynikel

2/4 tradebetablog.wordpress.com/2022/01/10/no-…
So, a stream of prepared speeches, sequenced by time zone, no interaction.

No surprise that some pro-waiver countries are sceptical too.

ACP coordinator is Vanuatu. What time will it be in Vanuatu when EU and US speak?

#TRIPSwaiver @DimitriEynikel

3/4 tradebetablog.wordpress.com/2022/01/10/no-…
Read 4 tweets
Peter Ungphakorn Profile picture
Jan 5
This is an interesting development. Some observations:

1. EUA = emergency use authorisation

2. As a least-developed country, Bangladesh is not *required* to protect patents (or any intellectual property) under the WTO agreement.

3. But ...
3. But Bangladesh does have a patent law, 110 years old, from 1911. It has been drafting a new law since 2012, apparently not yet completed.

wto.org/english/tratop… (page 83)

4. It's unclear from the news story ...
5. It's unclear from the news story if Bangladesh's approval of Bexovid (the generic version of Paxlovid) is under procedures for patented products within the law, or because the drug's patent is not registered in Bangladesh.

6. The news story says ...

economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/healt…
Read 5 tweets

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