Category: Global News

The World Information Technology and Services Alliance is excited to announce the 2021 WITSA Global ICT Excellence Awards program!  The Global ICT Excellence Awards will be presented in conjunction with the WCIT 2021, to be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from November 11-14, 2021.

Nomination forms and additional details can be found here. 

DAKAR, Senegal, February 1, 2018 – In an effort to help developing countries strengthen their collection, management and utilization of education data, high-level representatives from the private sector, international organizations, developing country governments and other partners are coming together at the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Financing Conference to launch a major new initiative called the Education Data Solutions Roundtable.

The initiative aims to improve developing countries’ capacity to gather accurate, comprehensive and timely data, which is essential to understand where improvements are needed in education systems and where progress is being made.

See the press release here.

Countries are using trade remedies slightly more than in previous years while fewer trade restrictive measures are being implemented, according to an annual report on the international trading environment published by the World Trade Organization on Monday.

According to a letter by WTO Director General Azevedo, “International trade flows have rebounded strongly during the last 12 months after a sharp slowdown in 2016. In September we upgraded our forecast for trade growth in 2017. This was due to a sharp acceleration in global trade growth in the first half of the year. The original forecast was 2.4 per cent, and we are now forecasting growth of 3.6 per cent. “

KEY FINDINGS

• WTO Members applied 108 new trade-restrictive measures during the review period from mid-October 2016 to mid-October 2017, including new or increased tariffs, customs
  procedures, quantitative restrictions and local content measures. This equates to an average of nine measures per month compared to fifteen in the previous period.
• WTO Members also implemented 128 measures aimed at facilitating trade, including
  eliminated or reduced tariffs and simplified customs procedures. At almost
  11 trade-facilitating measures per month, this remains significantly lower than the monthly average of 18 recorded in the previous annual overview report. WTO Members continue to implement more trade-facilitating than trade-restrictive measures, a trend observed over the past four years.
• It is noteworthy that the estimated trade coverage of import-facilitating measures
  (US$169 billion) is more than two times larger than that of import-restricting measures
  (US$79 billion). In addition, the import-facilitating measures implemented during the review
  period in the context of the ITA Expansion Agreement are estimated at around
  US$385 billion or 2.4{60f64eca3a32b5bb2ea8b8157c42bed521fa6a22c1f99cb6807b444ebbebb257} of the value of world merchandise imports.
  • On trade remedy measures, the review period saw a slight deceleration both in initiations of investigations and in terminations of measures, compared to the previous annual overview and to the whole of 2016. Anti-dumping measures continue to make up the bulk of all trade remedy initiations.
• Transparency and predictability in trade policy remains vital for all actors in the global
  economy. Collectively, WTO Members must show leadership in reiterating their commitment to open and mutually beneficial trade as a key driver of economic growth and a major engine for prosperity. In preparing for the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference, Members must continue to work together to achieve a successful meeting in Buenos Aires in December.

October 18, 2017 BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A year-old pact underpinning billions of dollars of transatlantic data transfers won a green light from the European Union on Wednesday after a first review to ensure Washington protects Europeans’ data stored on U.S. servers.

The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield was agreed last year after everyday cross-border data transfers were plunged into limbo when the EU’s top court struck down a previous data transfer pact in 2015 because it allowed U.S. spies excessive access to people’s data.

 The European Commission last month conducted its first annual review of the framework as it seeks to ensure the United States lives up to its promises to better protect Europeans’ data when they are transferred across the Atlantic – failing which it could suspend the Privacy Shield.

The EU executive said it was satisfied that the framework continues to ensure adequate protection for Europeans’ personal data although it asked Washington to improve the way it works, including by strengthening the privacy protections contained in a controversial portion of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

 The conclusion will come as a relief to the more than 2,400 companies signed up to the scheme, including Alphabet Inc’s Google, Facebook and Microsoft, especially since the Privacy Shield is already being challenged in court by privacy activists.

See the Reuters article here.