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
¡¡
[
Back to homepage ]