World Trade Organization

Founded:	1995
Headquarters:	Centre William Rappard, Geneva
Country:	Switzerland
Employees:	629
Website:	wto.org
Facebook:	WTO Facebook
LinkedIn:	WTO LinkedIn
Twitter:	@wto_omc
Key People
Pascal Lamy, Director-General

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is intended to perform the function of supervising and liberalizing international trade. Any dispute over trade between member countries is brought before the WTO and is solved through a series of negotiations. The organization is driven by its members, and all decisions are made by member governments. The agreements signed by various nations under WTO play an important role when forming laws and policies related to international trade.

History

The origin of the World Trade Organization roots back to October 1947 when twenty-three countries signed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade popularly known as GATT. The agreement was signed in Geneva, Switzerland and it was intended to give a new direction to liberalization of international trade.

Afterwards, proposal for establishment of International Trade Organization was out forward by delegates from fifty-six countries in November 1947 at Havana, Cuba.

On January 1 1995, the World Trade Organization was established.

The numbers of member state of WTO grows to 150 when Vietnam became the member on January 11 2007. Presently it has 153(July 2008) member states.

The first Ministerial Conference was held in 1996 in Singapore.

Functions

The World Trade Organization performs versatile functions in the area of international trade and they are as follows:

Trade Negotiations

The organization plays an indispensible role in the area of trade negotiations. The agreements signed by WTO include goods, intellectual property, and services under it. The exceptions that are permitted during the international trade have also been mentioned in these agreements. The best feature of these agreements is they are not static at all. The organization continuously revises the terms and conditions mentioned in the agreement such that they are well suitable to the changing needs and requirements of countries participating in international trade.

Monitoring and Implementations

The WTO agreements lay down rules and conditions for member companies. The company is not only responsible for formulating laws but it also monitors whether the companies are following them properly or not. Periodically, the organization makes a check on member companies and ensures that each of the laws is implemented to the best extent possible.

Settlement of Disputes

In order to make sure that international trade takes place smoothly and harmony is maintained amongst member companies the organization performs the function of dispute settlement as well. if any of the member companies experience problem while carrying out trade then they can bring the matter to the WTO without giving a second thought. The organization has appointed some experts who can carry out this task efficiently.

Reaching Out to People

The organization does not work by keeping itself isolated from other firms available in the market. Rather the organization maintains contact with non-government organizations and media such that it can stay aware of happenings taking place in different parts of the world. Moreover, it helps the organization in fetching support whenever required.

The organization plays a key role in improving trade capacity of member countries as well.