In the past two decades there has been a proliferation of associations and organizations in order to implement the interests of both private persons and governments at the bilateral, regional and global level in the course of the trade liberalization. The following essay will compare the power and influence of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develpment (OECD), with regard to their member states, as well as their importance in the global trading system on the background of their institutional structure.
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The forerunner of the OECD, the Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), was established in Paris in 1949 in order to develop and implement a shared concept for European economic reconstruction and cooperation. The primary aim of this organization was to involve European countries in the decision-making process for the disbursment of monies from the European Recovery Program, also known as the Marshall-Plan. In September of 1961 the OEEC carried over to the OECD with 20 member states including Japan, Canada and the United States. Since then, the number of members has increased up to 30 countries worldwide.
The membership stands open to any country that pursues an open market, a representative democracy and respects human rights1. The main aims of the OECD are: to advance an optimal economic development program, to support developing member and non-member countries and to enlarge the global trade in line with international responsibility based on a multilateral and non-discriminatory level.
The establishment of the WTO happened nearly three decades later in 1994. Similar to OEEC, the GATT (General Agreement on Tarifs and Trade) functioned as a predecessor that car ...