WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION (WTO)

INTRODUCTION
Following the ur agreement,GATT was converted from a provisional agreement into a formal international called world trade organization (WTO) with effect from january 1, 1995 It is directed by a Ministerial Conference that will meet at least once every two year and its regular business is overseen by a General Council. The WTO Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland. The WTO members now account for over 95 percent of the international trade indicating the potential of the WTO in bringing about an orderly development of the international trade. At the beginning of May 2009, WTO had 153 members.

FUNCTIONS OF WTO
Administering the WTO trade agreements. Providing the forum for negotiations among its members concerning their multilateral trade relations in matters dealt with under the agreements. Administering the mechanism for settling trade disputes between the member countries. Monitoring national trade policies. Providing technical assistance and training for developing countries.

Cooperating with other international organisations like the IMF and IBRD and its affiliater agencies with a view to achieving greater coherence in global economic policy making.

PRINCIPLES OF WTO

The WTO agreements have three main objectives: TO help trade flow as freely as possible. TO achieve further liberalisation gradually through negotiation. TO set up an impartial means of settling disputes.

THE WTO AGREEMENTS A Birds EyE ViEw

The WTOs rules- are the result of negotiations between the members. The WTO endeavours to ensure that trade is as fair as possible and as free as practicable by negotiating rules and abiding by them.

GATT is now the WTOs principal rule-book for trade in goods. The complete set runs to some 30,000 pages consisting of about 30 agreements and separate commitments (called schedules) made by individual members in specific areas such as lower customs duty rates and services marketopening.
Since 1995, the updated GATT has become the WTOs umbrella agreement for trade in goods. It has annexes dealing with specific sectors such as agriculture and textiles, and with specific issues such as state trading, product standards, subsidies and actions taken against dumping.

ORGANISATION OF WTO

Intellectual property .

Dispute settelment .
Policy review .

Development and Trade .

Technical Assistance and Training .

EVALUATION OF WTO

There is no other international organisation whose policies and actions have as wide an economic and social ramification and impact as the WTO. There are severe criticisms against WTO, particularly in the developing countries.

In fact, WTO has both positive and negative impacts. The WTO members now account for over 97 per cent of the international trade indicating the potential of the WTO in bringing about an orderly development of the international trade.

BENEFITS OF WTO
WTO has made significant achievements in reducing the tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. Developing countries too have been benefiting significantly from it. The liberalisation of investments has been fostering the economic growth of a number ofcountries.

WTO provides a forum for multilateral discussion of economic relations between nations.
It has a system in place to settle trade disputes between nations.

WTO has a mechanism to deal with violation of trade agreements.

WTO does considerable research related to global trade and disseminates a wealth of information.

DRAWBACKS OF WTO

Negotiations and decision making in the WTO are dominated by the developed countries. Many developing countries do not have the financial and knowledge resources to effectively participate in the WTO discussions and negotiations. The WTO has not been successful in imposing the organisations disciplines on the developed countries. The developing countries have, in general, been getting a raw deal from the WTO.

C ONCLUSION

One of achievements of the UR is the making of the rules and regulations more transparent , thus making trade harassment and unilateral actions more difficult. Because of the unequal participation and lack of bargaining power, the developing countries have not been getting a fair deal from the WTO and other international organization. The developed world needs to do its part to reform the international institutions that govern globalization.

THANK YOU