On 07 August 2025, the World Trade Organization (WTO) released its 2025 Annual Report, which provides a comprehensive account of the organisation’s activities in 2024 and the early part of 2025. The report looks back at recent key events, such as the 13th Ministerial Conference in February 2024. It describes the WTO’s work in addressing the challenges and opportunities facing world trade.
In an opening message, the WTO director-general said: “Thirty years ago, the Uruguay Round agreements transformed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade into the WTO. Since its creation, open and predictable international markets anchored in WTO rules and norms have made a major contribution to strengthening the global economy. Rich and poor countries have benefited from increased growth, purchasing power and macroeconomic stability. Nevertheless, the global trading system is today experiencing its worst disruptions since the Second World War. Multilateral cooperation itself is being called into question. One silver lining of the current disruptions is that they have reminded many governments, businesses and households why the predictable trading conditions they had come to take for granted are so valuable. The WTO has an important role to play as a forum where all 166 of our members can share their trade concerns and propose solutions. WTO committees dealing with health and safety standards and technical regulations protect consumer safety while enabling members to minimise trade frictions. Other committees work to accelerate the flow of goods across borders, promote trade in services, protect intellectual property or make government procurement processes more open, transparent and competitive. World trade is about much more than just tariffs – and so is the WTO.”
The report begins with a summary of the WTO’s activities over the past year, followed by more detailed accounts of the WTO’s various areas of activity. It also includes information on the organisation’s structure, staff and budget.
It is accessible at:
https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news25_e/anrp_07aug25_e.htm