Services bodies spotlight Public Forum, remittance costs and development issues
Follow-up to outcomes of ministerial conferences
Ambassador Goosen, Chair of the Council for Trade in Services, reported on her consultations on how to reinvigorate the Council's work on trade in services in line with ministerial guidance. Suggested topics for future engagement include the services aspects of electronic commerce, such as digitally delivered services trade and the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on trade in services, export competitiveness in the services sector, implementation of the disciplines on services domestic regulation, recognition of foreign service suppliers' professional qualifications, green services and transparency, she said.
Many members called for development issues to permeate all discussions, she added. Members also recognized the useful exchanges the Council had in past thematic sessions and broadly supported engaging in similar informal exercises.
The Chair encouraged members to continue exchanging views, identify areas of common interest and submit written proposals for further deliberations.
Participation of LDCs in services trade
The discussion on the operationalisation of the LDC Services Waiver was informed by members' discussions at previous Council meetings on intelligence gathered on the experiences of LDC service suppliers in accessing foreign markets and making use of the preferences in favour of LDC services and service suppliers notified under the LDC Waiver.
Taking stock of the information shared, LDCs underscored that their service suppliers are active in international markets and export services across diverse sectors, including information and communication technologies (ICT), software, business process outsourcing, professional services, logistics, education, tourism and health. LDC service suppliers export both to developing and developed economies, they noted.
However, LDCs said that challenges remain. Increasing the participation of LDCs in global services trade requires, in their view, greater awareness of the Services Waiver, improved preferential treatment for LDCs, enhanced regulatory cooperation, greater recognition of the qualifications of their service suppliers, and streamlined approval processes for visas and work permits.
Members expressed willingness to continue supporting the LDC Group's efforts, while also noting that fostering greater LDC participation in services trade requires taking a broader approach that goes beyond just the Waiver.
Transparency of recognition measures
A CTS workshop on notifications of recognition measures under General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) Article VII and related database tools took place on 7 October 2026. At the request of the co-sponsors of the event - Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and the Kyrgyz Republic - an item was added to the Council's agenda to provide members with the opportunity to share their reflections about the workshop.
At the CTS meeting, the co-sponsors identified a number of information shortcomings regarding recognition measures and put forward possible remedies, mindful of the need for solutions to be practical and flexible while being not burdensome and attentive to the differences in members' regulatory systems. Other members welcomed the information shared at the workshop and indicated readiness to continue engaging on the issue. One member cautioned that Article VII did not need to be further operationalised.
Takeaways from the 2026 Public Forum
Members exchanged views on the key takeaways from the 2026 WTO Public Forum, which covered a wide range of topics related to services trade.
Members welcomed the launch of the new edition of the World Trade Report at the Forum, which provides evidence on the growing importance of services in total global trade, highlighting the rapid expansion of digitally delivered services and the importance of services value chains.
Many members shared the key findings from the various sessions they organized and participated in during the event. They welcomed the opportunity to hear perspectives from business, civil society, other international organizations and the general public, noting that the diversity of views from different stakeholders contributed to more informed discussions at the WTO.
Members also highlighted the topics they found of particular interest. These included many of the areas for possible future CTS work raised during the Chair consultations, as well as other issues, such as the development of services technical standards, particularly in the digital sphere, interoperability of regulatory measures and competition in the digital economy.
More information on the 2026 Public Forum is available here.
Trade in services for development (TS4D)
The Philippines briefed members on the first regional conference of the TS4D initiative held on 28-29 September in Manila, organized by the WTO, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The WTO Secretariat also outlined recent and planned activities under the TS4D initiative and invited interested members to submit requests for training and technical assistance on the use of the TS4D components.
Members welcomed the TS4D initiative and its capacity building activities and highlighted the upcoming Aid for Trade Review later this month as an opportunity to deepen discussions on the development dimension of services trade. More information on the TS4D initiative is available here.
Other issues
The Council reviewed several recurring specific trade concerns, including cybersecurity measures by China and Viet Nam, certain US services measures, India's measures affecting mobile applications, and two measures considered by the European Union.
Trade in financial services
On 8 October, the Committee on Trade in Financial Services (CTFS) elected Mr Momodou M. Mbenga of The Gambia as its new Chair. The Committee continued discussions on facilitating cross-border digital payments and reducing remittance costs. Members also heard about national measures to improve access to finance for women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
Members continued discussions on the follow-up to the September 2025 thematic session on facilitating digital payment systems and remittance services (JOB/SERV/CTFS/23). They exchanged views on possible future topics, including regulatory approaches, trade-related barriers and the role of WTO rules, digitalization and data governance, and interoperability among cross-border payment systems. The Chair recognized the importance of the issue and expressed his readiness to conduct informal consultations with all members.
The Committee also continued exchanging views on the potential follow-up to the draft Ministerial Declaration on "Reducing the Cost of Cross-Border Remittances - A Lever for Sustainable Development" (WT/MIN(26)/W/3/Rev.1), following the request of Cameroon's Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, the Chair of the 14th Ministerial Conference, for continued discussions in Geneva.
Looking ahead, co-sponsors proposed future work, including factual studies on the drivers of high remittance costs and how those are addressed, and further cooperation with relevant international organizations to identify the WTO's added value. They also highlighted the need for technical assistance and capacity-building to strengthen payment infrastructure, digitalization and regulatory interoperability in developing economies.
Australia, Mexico, the Philippines and the United Kingdom shared their respective national experiences in policies aimed at improving women-led businesses' access to finance, drawing on the Compendium of Financial Inclusion Initiatives and the related database available on the WTO website: Compendium of Financial Inclusion Initiatives for Women Entrepreneurs. The compendium was established by the Informal Working Group on MSMEs and the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender. Members were encouraged to continue exchanging information, and Ambassador Matthew Wilson, Coordinator of the Working Group on MSMEs, announced plans to launch a new initiative on digitalization in December.
Services in global value chains: trends and challenges
At an event held on 8 October, trade experts from the WTO Secretariat, academia, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Secretariat as well as WTO members discussed evolving trends in global value chains (GVCs), with a particular focus on services and the challenges developing economies face in leveraging services to integrate into the global economy.
Speakers reaffirmed the critical role of services in GVCs. Drawing on the data and findings of recent studies, they highlighted the growing importance of services as a key source of value creation in manufacturing GVCs, the emergence and expansion of services GVCs, and services as an increasingly important pathway for developing economies to participate in GVCs.
Speakers recognized that services-led development also presents challenges, such as automation and AI replacement, inequalities and market concentration. They emphasized that industrialization should not be viewed as a choice between manufacturing and services. Instead, development strategies should focus on sectors that generate high productivity, quality jobs and trade opportunities, which are key drivers of long-term growth and prosperity.
The event was organized by the WTO's Trade in Services and Investment Division as part of the "Simply Services" speaker series, an informal platform for sharing the latest information on services trade trends. More information about the event is available here.
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