Trade : Panels set in raw materials, origin marking requirements disputes (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Geneva)
The WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) on Monday agreed to establish a dispute panel, at the request of the European Union, to examine Indonesia's export prohibition on nickel ore, as well as the domestic processing requirements on minerals, in particular nickel ore and iron ore.

Trade : JSIs will erode WTO's multilateral rules-based architecture (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Geneva)
India and South Africa have challenged the legal status of the proposed informal Joint Statement Initiatives (JSIs) on electronic commerce, investment facilitation, MSMEs, and domestic regulation in services, on grounds of their inherent contradiction with the core principles of the WTO's Marrakesh Agreement, as well as their systemic and development implications.

COVID-19 : Addressing pandemic-induced global medical supply issues (PRIV)
(Lim Chee Han, Kuala Lumpur)
Public excitement prevailed at the arrival of the first batch of COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Malaysia on Sunday, probably more as a sign of relief and hope for ending the pandemic soon.

Opinion : Developing countries struggling to cope with COVID-19 (PRIV)
(IPS, Sydney/Kuala Lumpur)
Sydney/Kuala Lumpur, 23 Feb (IPS/Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram*) -- The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is adversely impacting most developing countries disproportionately, especially the United Nations' least developed countries (LDCs) and the World Bank's low-income countries (LICs).