World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with the rules of trade between nations at a global or near-global level.

Evolution of WTO- The GATT

The WTO began life on January 01, 1995, but its trading system is almost half a century older. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) had provided the rules for the system. GATT was established in 1948 as a multilateral agreement aiming to liberalize world trade and place in on a secure basis. In the second WTO ministerial meeting held in Geneva in May 1998, the 50th anniversary of the system was celebrated. It did not take long for the General Agreement to give birth to an unofficial, international organization, also known informally as GATT. Over the years GATT evolved through several rounds of negotiations. The detail of negotiations is given in table 1.1.


The Uruguay Round

The last and largest GATT round, was the Uruguay Round (UR) which lasted from 1986 to 1994 and led to the WTO creation. The UR agreements have posed many challenges to the developing countries. GATT had mainly dealt with trade in goods, the WTO and its agreements now cover trade in services, and in traded inventions, creations and designs.

On the domestic front, these include imperatives to make adjustments in the domestic production and trade regime to stay active in the international Market characterized with tough competition. On the external side, the challenges originate also from the issues related to the WTO framework itself, relating to the implementation of the built-in agenda, and new issues for coverage under the WTO framework. The developing countries are concerned about the implementation of built-in agenda before new issues are taken up.


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Establishment: Fact File
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Established: 1 January 1995
Created by: Uruguay Round negotiations (1986–94)
Membership: 148 countries
Budget: 154 million Swiss francs for 2003
Secretariat staff: 550
Head: Mr. Spatial Panitchpakdi (director-general)

Objectives:

• To raise standard of living
• To ensure full employment
• Growing volume of real income and effective demand
• Expanding the production of and trade in goods & services
• Sustainable development and environmental protection
• To improve financial position of developing countries


Umer Draz