The agreement on services, concluded in 2021, will now apply to the 71 members who have signed it at the World Trade Organization (WTO). On Tuesday 27 February, all WTO members gave the go-ahead for the services agreement to be incorporated into WTO rules. This is one of the first announcements to come out of the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference, which opened in Abu Dhabi on Monday 26 February.
The services initiative applies only to the 71 participating countries - which account for 92% of world trade in services - since it is a plurilateral agreement. Other members are welcome to join if they wish.
South Africa and India were opposed to the inclusion of this text in the WTO rules, but negotiations led by the EU enabled the differences to be overcome. For the European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, “this shows that the WTO’s deliberative functions can work to the benefit of all members and that it is possible to find common ground”.
The services initiative will streamline authorisation requirements for the provision of services and reduce procedural barriers for businesses. This will be of significant benefit to them, according to Mr Dombrovskis, who highlighted that the cost of trade in services was twice as high as the cost of trade in goods.
“Estimates have shown that barriers to trade in services could be reduced by 10% in the participating economies”, he added. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)