More than seventy-five countries agreed to commence informal talks on fixing global e-commerce rules on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meet at Davos in January 2019.
The talks—as reflected in the joint statement issued by the proposing WTO members—would be in conformity with existing WTO rules and would pay special attention to the interests and circumstances of LDCs and SMEs while aiming for high-standard outcomes.
The talks would take place outside the WTO with a negotiating agenda likely to take shape during the course of the year. However, with nearly half of WTO members agreeing to join the talks, the negotiations might formally shift to the global trade body in the foreseeable future.
