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WTO Assignment

The WTO is an international organization that regulates global trade. It was established in 1995 to replace the GATT and promote free trade. The WTO aims to improve global living standards through increased trade, efficient use of resources, and sustainable development. It has three main bodies - the Ministerial Conference, General Council, and Trade Councils. While the WTO has struggled to fully achieve its goals, it has successfully avoided major trade wars since its establishment.

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234 views

WTO Assignment

The WTO is an international organization that regulates global trade. It was established in 1995 to replace the GATT and promote free trade. The WTO aims to improve global living standards through increased trade, efficient use of resources, and sustainable development. It has three main bodies - the Ministerial Conference, General Council, and Trade Councils. While the WTO has struggled to fully achieve its goals, it has successfully avoided major trade wars since its establishment.

Uploaded by

ayesha amir
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DOCUMENT

(WTO)

By Rimel Khan

MDDS. 2
Introduction

WTO stands for World Trade Organization. It is


an international intergovernmental organization
meaning it compromises of many states and is
conducted between almost all the states of the
world. The agreement to establish the WTO was
signed between 123 states on 15th April 1994 and
WTO officially started functioning from 1st
January 1995. It replaced GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) which came into
being after the World War 2. It replaced GATT because WTO meant to be a new more modern
and better approach towards world trade than the old methods of GATT. WTO is currently the
only world organization which deals with world trade and its rules. The basic purpose of WTO is
to regulate trade of goods and services between different nations of the world. It was founded on
certain principles like non-discrimination, free trade, open, fair and undistorted competition, etc
and those are its basic objectives. The headquarters of the WTO are located in Geneva,
Switzerland and the current director general of WTO is Roberto Azevêdo since 2013.

Structure

The structure of WTO consists of three main bodies; Ministerial Conferences, General council
and Trade councils.

Ministerial Conference: WTO is headed by the Ministerial Conference who enjoys absolute
authority over the institution. It not only carries out functions of the WTO but also takes
appropriate measures to administer the new global trade rules. It is integrated by representatives
of all WTO Members and shall meet at least once in every two years. It is the chief policy-
making body of WTO and any major policy changes, such as a decision to alter competition
policy or to rewrite the WTO agreement, require its
approval.

General Council: In addition to these, the structure


of the WTO consists of a General Council to oversee
the WTO agreement and ministerial decisions on a regular basis. It is also formed by the
representatives of all WTO Members and acts on behalf of Ministerial Conference whenever the
Conference is not in sessions. The General Council also meets as the Dispute Settlement Body
and the Trade Policy Review Body. The Council sits usually once a month.

Trade Councils: Besides General Council, there is the Council for Trade in Goods, the Council
for Trade in Services, the Council for Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). These
Councils and their respective subsidiary bodies perform their respective functions. Each member
has one vote. Decision-making is made by consensus. If consensus is not reached then majority
voting plays the crucial rate.

Objectives and Functions

Its objectives as mentioned briefly in the introduction basically are to improve the living
standards of the people in its member countries specially the developing ones. It aims to increase
production and trade of goods and services, ensure use of world resources in efficient and safe
manner and to ensure that sustainable development happens. WTO functions in accordance to
achieving its objectives as it implements rules and regulations of trade on member countries,
provides a platform for negotiations and solving economic conflicts
and provides help in implementing trade agreements between states.

Conclusion

It is quite hard to out rightly come to a conclusion of weather WTO


has been a success or a failure as the global trade organization. Yes it
has lacked behind in achieving a lot of its goals and objectives. It has
not been functioning how it should be ideally; fully partially working
for the interest of the world. But in the reality of the world there are
no ideal scenarios. Considering all the backdrops and flaws of WTO
in its functions, the success it has achieved simultaneously cannot be
over looked. The success of no major trade wars since its
establishment. It might not have helped too much in trade progress
and achieving its objectives but it has successfully avoided any trade
wars from happening and that is the biggest success of WTO on its own.

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