The World Trade Organization (WTO) has made available its latest Annual Report, the periodic publication describing the organization's activities over the past year. Apart from revealing plans for the revitalization, by 2024, of the Appellate Body (which is currently paralyzed due to the fact that all its seven members have not yet been appointed, as we discussed in this post), the report once again highlights the problem of Africa's trade finance gap as a major constraint to African export development. In an era of enduring discussions about the potential of the AfCFTA and how this agreement can accelerate intra-African trade, it is important to keep this constraint in mind.

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The WTO Dispute Settlement (One-Page Case Summaries), is a biennial publication with a summary of all cases where the panels and the WTO Appellate Body decided disputes between the WTO members since the creation of this body up to the end of 2022. The publication summarizes the core facts and substantive findings contained in WTO panel reports and those of the Appellate Body - a body, the latter, now paralyzed because of "veto power" exerted since 2019 by the United States on the appointment of its members. The 2023 edition of the WTO publication shows that the main users of this dispute resolution mechanisms remain the developed economies: mainly the United States, the European Union and Canada. Cases involving African countries are just a bunch.

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