World Trade Organization

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World Trade Organization (English) Organisation mondiale du commerce (French) Organizacin Mundial del Comercio (Spanish)

WTO founder members (January 1, 1995) WTO subsequent members Formation January 1, 1995 Centre William Rappard, Geneva, Headquarters Switzerland Membership 153 member states Official languages English, French, Spanish[1] Director-General Pascal Lamy 189 million Swiss francs (approx. Budget 182 million USD) in 2009.[2] Staff 625[3] Website wto.org The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. The organization deals with regulation of trade between participating countries; it provides a framework for negotiating and formalizing trade agreements, and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments.[4][5] Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (19861994).

The organization is currently endeavoring to persist with a trade negotiation called the Doha Development Agenda (or Doha Round), which was launched in 2001 to enhance equitable participation of poorer countries which represent a majority of the world's population. However, the negotiation has been dogged by "disagreement between exporters of agricultural bulk commodities and countries with large numbers of subsistence farmers on the precise terms of a 'special safeguard measure' to protect farmers from surges in imports. At this time, the future of the Doha Round is uncertain."[6] The WTO has 153 members,[7] representing more than 97% of the world's population,[8] and 30 observers, most seeking membership. The WTO is governed by a ministerial conference, meeting every two years; a general council, which implements the conference's policy decisions and is responsible for day-to-day administration; and a director-general, who is appointed by the ministerial conference. The WTO's headquarters is at the Centre William Rappard, Geneva,

History
See also: Timeline of the World Trade Organization and International Trade Organization Harry White (l) and John Maynard Keynes at the Bretton Woods Conference Both economists had been strong advocates of a liberal international trade environment, and recommended the establishment of three institutions: the IMF (fiscal and monetary issues), the World Bank (financial and structural issues), and the ITO (international economic cooperation).[9] The WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), was established after World War II in the wake of other new multilateral institutions dedicated to international economic cooperation notably the Bretton Woods institutions known as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. A comparable international institution for trade, named the International Trade Organization was successfully negotiated. The ITO was to be a United Nations specialized agency and would address not only trade barriers but other issues indirectly related to trade, including employment, investment, restrictive business practices, and commodity agreements. But the ITO treaty was not approved by the U.S. and a few other signatories and never went into effect.[10][11][12] In the absence of an international organization for trade, the GATT would over the years "transform itself" into a de facto international organization.[13]

Functions
Among the various functions of the WTO, these are regarded by analysts as the most important: It oversees the implementation, administration and operation of the covered agreements.[28][29]

It provides a forum for negotiations and for settling disputes.[30][31]

Additionally, it is the WTO's duty to review and propagate the national trade policies, and to ensure the coherence and transparency of trade policies through surveillance in global economic policy-making.[29][31] Another priority of the WTO is the assistance of developing, least-developed and low-income countries in transition to adjust to WTO rules and disciplines through technical cooperation and training.[32] The WTO is also a center of economic research and analysis: regular assessments of the global trade picture in its annual publications and research reports on specific topics are produced by the organization.[33] Finally, the WTO cooperates closely with the two other components of the Bretton Woods system, the IMF and the World Bank.[30] OBJECTIVES
Answers.com > Wiki Answers > Categories > History, Politics & Society > Politics and Government > Government > International Government > What are the objectives of the World trade organization?

Answer:
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Following are the objective of the world trade organisation -

The foremost objective of WTO is to enforce new world trade regulation system. To encourage world trade in such a way so that each country gets the benefit from it. To remove all the hurdles/bottlenecks in the way of open world trade system. To encourage competition among all the trade partners for the benefit of consumer. With the idea to increase the level of employment in the whole world, to increase commensurately the productivity and the level of production. To maximum explore and make the best utilisation of the resources of the world.

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