Joint Statement Initiatives

WTO Public Forum Working Session, 18 September 2025

Mapping Africa’s Digital Trade: AfCFTA, JSI & AU AI Strategy

WTO Public Forum Working Session 49

Organizer: South Centre

 18 September 2025    10:45-12:00    Room S3

This session explores how Africa is shaping its digital trade future through the AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol, engagement in WTO e-commerce discussions, and the Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy. It will examine the region’s priorities on data governance, local value creation, and inclusive digital markets, while assessing risks of fragmentation across regimes. Speakers will consider how African countries can assert greater agency in global digital rulemaking and align trade, technology, and development strategies. The session offers a forward-looking perspective on what a fair and inclusive global digital trade architecture could look like from an African and Global South perspective.

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SC Statement on USTR JSI E-Commerce Decision, 15 November 2023

U-turn by the U.S. Trade Representative to rein in the Big Tech Digital Trade Agenda

15 November 2023

The landmark shift by the U.S. Trade Rrepresentative to set aside four proposals to ensure “policy space” for the U.S. is a welcomed development under the Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) negotiations on E-commerce on the side lines of the WTO. This decision validates the positions taken by governments in the Global South for the last seven years. There remain several provisions in the negotiating text that will be detrimental to the development of domestic digital industries in developing countries.

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Policy Brief 101, September 2021

The Investment Facilitation Framework & Most Favoured Nation (MFN) Treatment

 By Peter Lunenborg

The issue of Investment Facilitation (IF) is one of the ‘Joint Statement Initiatives’ which has been under negotiation for a number of years between certain World Trade Organization (WTO) Members. It has not been without controversy as there is no multilateral mandate at the WTO for these negotiations. Questions have been raised about how the outcomes of these IF negotiations can be brought into the WTO framework. Despite these uncertainties, there is a draft Investment Facilitation Framework (IFF) text. This Policy Brief discusses the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) treatment as contained in Article 2 of the Investment Facilitation Framework (IFF), also referred to as the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA).  This brief highlights the potential implications of the proposed text and proposes some options.

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