MC14: USTR warns of "new trading order" as US rejects interim e-com deal (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Yaounde)
The United States Trade Representative (USTR), Ambassador Jamieson Greer, has suggested a new trade paradigm shift to ensure that "bilateral and plurilateral agreements" trump multilateral trade deals at the World Trade Organization, as "the benefits will accrue to those partners - not to free riders or countries that undermine fair, market-oriented competition," in a statement to be delivered at the WTO's 14th ministerial conference (MC14) in Yaounde, Cameroon, on 26 March.

MC14: Global South opposes US push for permanent e-com moratorium (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Yaounde)
The Jamaican minister-facilitator overseeing the "e-commerce work program and moratorium" at the World Trade Organisation's 14th ministerial conference (MC14) is expected to convene the first small-group meeting on 26 March, as unbridgeable differences persist among members and the United States pressures others to agree to a permanent moratorium, according to people familiar with the development.

WHO: Civil society calls on DG to adhere to access & benefit-sharing norms (PRIV)
(K. M. Gopakumar, Geneva)
More than one hundred civil society groups and coalitions working at the international, regional and national level have written to the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) calling on him to adhere to the international norms and standards on access and benefit-sharing (ABS).

UN: DRC facing one of the world's worst crises, warns deputy rights chief (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Penang)
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is facing one of the world's gravest humanitarian crises, fueled by a complex mix of armed group proliferation, foreign interference, deep rooted ethnic tensions, fragile governance, and intense competition over the country's vast natural resources, according to Nada Al-Nashif, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights.