Contributed by

Rishikant
Asad
Shivam
Siddesh
Aditya
Pooja.K
Saif
Prachi

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World Trade
Organisation
And
Its Role in International
Trade

WTO BRIEF HISTORY

Predecessor
GATT - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT)
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.
The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995
under theMarrakesh Agreement, signed by 123
nations on 15 April 1994, replacing theGeneral
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which
commenced in 1948.
The GATT was the only multilateral instrument
governing international trade from 1948 until the
WTO was established in 1995.

WHAT IS WTO ?

Supervise and liberalize

international trade.

member-driven, with
decisions taken by General
agreement among all member
of governments.

WTO is the global international

organization dealing with the
rules of trade between nations.

WTO agreements, negotiated

and signed by the bulk of the
worlds trading nations and
ratified in their parliaments.

FACT FILE OF WTO

Location

Geneva,Switzerland

Established
Created by

1January1995
Uruguay Round
negotiations (1986-94)
164 members

Membership
Budget

Secretariat staff
Head

196 millionSwiss
Francs(approx. 209
million US$) in 2011
640
Roberto Azevdo (D.G.)

ROLES OF WTO

Implementation, administration and

operation of the covered agreements.

Forum for negotiations.

Settlement of disputes.

Maintaining World Peace.

ROLES OF WTO (CONTD..)

WTO is a center of economic research and analysis .

Another priority of the WTO is the assistance of

developing, least-developed and low-income countries by
giving technical assistance.

WTO cooperates closely with the two other components

of the Bretton Woods system, the IMF and the World
Bank.

PRINCIPLES OF WTO
Most-favoured-nation

National

Freer

(MFN): treating other people equally

treatment: Treating foreigners and locals equally

trade: gradually, through negotiation

Predictability:

through binding and transparency

PRINCIPLES ( CONTD. )
Promoting

fair competition

Encouraging

development and economic reform.

STRUCTURE
The

WTOs top level decision-making body is the Ministerial

Conference which meets at least once every two years.

Below

this is the General Council (normally ambassadors and

heads of delegation in Geneva, but sometimes officials sent from
members capitals) which meets several times a year in the
Geneva headquarters.

The

General Council also meets as the Trade Policy Review Body

and the Dispute Settlement Body.

STRUCTURE (CONTD)
At

the next level, the Goods Council, Services Council

and Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Council report to the
General Council.

Numerous

specialized committees, working groups and

working parties deal with the individual agreements and
other areas such as the environment, development,
membership applications and regional trade agreements.

CONCLUSION
It

is the place where the member country comes and talks together and shares
their grievance in order to resolve their problem related to International trade.

The

countries make their decisions through various councils and committees,

whose membership consists of all WTO members.

The

system helps promote peace, by handling Dispute of member countries.

It provides free trade which cuts the costs of living and provides more
choice of products and qualities and stimulates economic growth.

CONCLUSION
The

WTO agreements cover goods, services and intellectual property. They

spell out the principles of liberalization, and the permitted exceptions. They
include individual countries commitments to lower customs tariffs and
other trade barriers, and to open and keep open services markets. They set
procedures for settling disputes.

WTO

deals with the special needs of developing countries as two thirds of

the WTO members are developing countries and play an important and
active role in the WTO.

THANK YOU