AFP, Geneva :
The first multilateral deal agreed at the World Trade Organization came into force Wednesday, a step billed as a milestone for the body facing unprecedented threats from a hostile US administration.
The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) has now been ratified by 112 of the WTO’s 164 members, crossing the two-thirds threshold needed for activation, the Geneva-based organisation confirmed.
Under the deal, nations agreed to simplify and standardise customs procedures at borders to make it easier for goods to flow around the world.
WTO chief Roberto Azevedo said that the TFA was estimated to trim global trade costs by more than 14 percent and could boost global growth by half a percentage point per year.
“The trade facilitation agreement is the biggest reform of global trade this century,” Azevedo told journalists after Chad, Jordan, Oman and Rwanda submitted the clinching ratifications.
The first multilateral deal agreed at the World Trade Organization came into force Wednesday, a step billed as a milestone for the body facing unprecedented threats from a hostile US administration.
The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) has now been ratified by 112 of the WTO’s 164 members, crossing the two-thirds threshold needed for activation, the Geneva-based organisation confirmed.
Under the deal, nations agreed to simplify and standardise customs procedures at borders to make it easier for goods to flow around the world.
WTO chief Roberto Azevedo said that the TFA was estimated to trim global trade costs by more than 14 percent and could boost global growth by half a percentage point per year.
“The trade facilitation agreement is the biggest reform of global trade this century,” Azevedo told journalists after Chad, Jordan, Oman and Rwanda submitted the clinching ratifications.
