2.International Trade 

                           and    WTO       

  In 1947, 23 countries got together and signed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It provides a set of rules for the conduct of international trade and is the forum in which worldwide negotiations take place. Today there are some 140 members of its successor organization, the World Trade Organisation, which was formed in 1995. Between then, the members of the WTO account for over 90 per cent of world trade. The aims of GATT, and now the WTO, have been to liberalise trade.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world¡¯s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.

  The key objective of WTO is to facilitate and promote world trade among its member states. To date, there are about 135 countries registered as WTO members at this body's headquarters in Geneva. About seventy five (75) WTO members had established NEPS BY 1999. The objective 2 is to direct support to and positioning of WTO members in tourism education, training and knowledge by means of structural capacity-building policies. 

Most countries of the world are members of the WTO (including P.R.CHINA.) and in theory are in favour of moves towards free trade. The Uruguay round brought significant reductions in trade restrictions, both tariff and non-tariff. Nevertheless, countries have been very unwilling to abandon restrictions if they believe that they can gain from them, even though they might be at the expense of other countries.

International Trade and WTO Information web Pages:

*WTO homepage

*Trade statistics

*Global Trade Watch

*Trade and the Environment

*WTO, committee on Trade and  Environment

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