The Italian G20 Presidency, that began in December 2020, hosted this month a series of summits on two pressing issues for international diplomacy – global digital taxation and speeding up efforts to combat climate change.

The Covid-19 pandemic has illustrated the importance of international trade for access to all kinds of medical supplies, with many countries suffering from shortages of essential medical goods as a result of various government-imposed trade barriers. The negative impact of these new restrictions is now the subject of high-level political attention. Both within the policy response to Covid-19 and more broadly, the substantial adverse impacts of government-imposed import tariffs on global access to medicines and medical goods is still largely unaddressed.

The election of Joe Biden as the next US President was celebrated with great acclaim within the international community.

The Appellate Body of the WTO has been in abeyance since December 11, 2019. The situation has been brought about by the US veto on filling up vacancies in the Appellate Body on account of its dissatisfaction with its functioning. Although WTO Members have been discussing proposals to set the matter right, they have not been able to agree on the way forward.