APEC : Leaders reaffirm support for MTS & WTO despite threats by Trump (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Geneva)
In their Machu Picchu Declaration issued on 16 November, the Economic Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum reaffirmed their "support for the rules-based multilateral tra ding system [MTS], with the WTO at its core" while committing to work "toward necessary WTO reform, in order to improve all its functions."

Climate : Fate of new finance goal hangs in the balance (PRIV)
(Prerna Bomzan and Meena Raman, Baku)
The fate of the new collective quantified goal (NCQG) on climate finance hangs in the balance, as the Baku climate talks enter the second and final week of negotiations, schedul ed to end Friday, 22 November.

COP16 : Hollowed-out assessment process for synthetic biology survives (PRIV)
(Eva Sirinathsinghji and Lim Li Ching, London)
Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have adopted a decision on synthet ic biology that is disappointingly hollow.

UNGA : Third Committee adopts key resolution on right to development (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Penang)
The Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), at its seventy-ninth session, adopted a resolution on the right to development, in which the General Assembly amongst others, acknowledged the need to strive for greater acceptance, operationalization and realization of the right to development at the international level.