WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION
Nobody will deny if I say that in our modern world it is very important to control the relationship between different countries. There are different organizations nowadays. They control different aspects of our everyday life. I would like to speak about world trade organization. It deals with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.
First of all I would like to give some facts about the creation and location of WTO.
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Established: 1 January 1995
Created by: Uruguay Round negotiations (1986?94)
Membership: 134 countries (as of February 1999)
Budget: 122 million Swiss francs for 1999
Secretariat staff: 500
Head: Director-general
Functions:
? Administering WTO trade agreements
? Forum for trade negotiations
? Handling trade disputes
? Monitoring national trade policies
? Technical assistance and training for developing countries
? Cooperation with other international organizations
The World Trade Organization came into being in 1995. One of the youngest of the international organizations, the WTO is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in the wake of the Second World War. So while the WTO is still young, the multilateral trading system that was originally set up under GATT is already 50 years old. The system celebrated its golden jubilee in Geneva on 19 May 1998, with many heads of state and government leaders attending. The past 50 years have seen an exceptional growth in world trade. Merchandise exports grew on average by 6% annually. Total trade in 1997 was 14-times the level of 1950. GATT and the WTO have helped to c ...