The WTO Joint Initiative (JI) on e-commerce held its first round of negotiations of the year from 29 January to 2 February. Participating members expressed their willingness to work on the 'chairs' text' circulated by the co-convenors in mid-January.

The text was produced by JI co-convenors, reflecting their perception on where consensus lies, and is seen as a major milestone towards a future e-commerce agreement. Co-convenors expressed optimism that an agreement could be reached in the next few months.

Nevertheless, discussions are still ongoing on some important topics, such as development issues, e-payments, cryptography, and on so-called 'horizontal issues', which are overarching provisions in the agreement. The next meeting is scheduled for 11-14 March, and it will take place after the 13th WTO Ministerial Meeting.

Source: WTO.