The main tasks of the secretariats are to provide technical support to the various Councils/Committees and Ministerial Conferences, to provide technical assistance to developing countries, to analyse world trade and to explain wto activities to the public and the media. Nevertheless, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of China`s accession, a big question hangs over its relations with other key players in the WTO. Negotiation of the elimination or elimination of barriers to trade (import duties, other barriers to trade) and agreement on rules for the organization of international trade (e.g. anti-dumping, subsidies, product standards, etc.) Manage and monitor the application of WTO agreed rules for trade in goods, trade in services and related intellectual property rights, monitor and review the trade policy of our Members, and ensure transparency of regional and bilateral trade agreements that resolve disputes between our Members over the interpretation and application of agreements and the capacities of government officials from developing countries in developing countries engage in international trade affairs and which establish the accession process of some 30 countries that are not yet members of the organization, which conducts economic research and collects and disseminates trade data in support of the other main activities of the WTO, which educates and educates the public about the WTO, its mission and activities. Regulations that facilitate the investment process are in the investor`s interest, as they help foreign investors gain an advantage over local competition. With several countries, including the United States, strengthening its protectionist stance on trade, the future of the World Trade Organization remains complex and uncertain. A country may have to sacrifice its own interests to avoid violating the WTO Agreements. In this way, a country is limited in its possibilities. Moreover, brutal regimes that harm their own countries may inadvertently receive covert support from foreign governments that continue to do business with these regimes in the name of free trade. Governments that are unfavourable to big business therefore remain in power at the expense of representative government.

The rules of world trade guarantee security and stability. Consumers and producers know that they can benefit from a secure supply and a greater choice of finished products, components, raw materials and services they use. Producers and exporters know that foreign markets will remain open to them. The WTO Agreement on Intellectual Property contains rules for trade in ideas and creativity. The rules define how copyrights, patents, trademarks, geographical names used to identify products, industrial designs and undisclosed information such as trade secrets and intellectual property must be protected when it comes to trade. The main objective of the WTO is to promote free trade by removing tariffs and other barriers. It does so through agreements negotiated and signed by most of the world`s trading nations. Although tariffs and other barriers to trade have been significantly reduced thanks to GATT and the WTO, the promise that free trade will accelerate economic growth, reduce poverty and increase people`s incomes has been challenged by many critics. [122] Some prominent skeptics [Who?] cite the example of El Salvador. In the early 1990s, they removed all quantitative barriers to imports and also lowered tariffs. However, the country`s economic growth has remained weak. On the other hand, Vietnam, which only began reforming its economy in the late 1980s, has enjoyed great success in deciding to follow the Chinese economic model and liberalize slowly, as well as implement protective measures for internal trade.

Vietnam has largely succeeded in accelerating economic growth and reducing poverty without immediately removing significant barriers to trade. [123] [122] Starting point for essential information on the WTO. In the same year, 40 governments successfully concluded negotiations on duty-free trade in computer products, and 70 members concluded an agreement on financial services covering more than 95% of the trade in banking, insurance, securities and financial information. The founding and guiding principles of the WTO remain the pursuit of open borders, the guarantee of the most-favoured-nation principle and non-discriminatory treatment by and among Members, and the commitment to transparency in the conduct of its activities. The opening of national markets to international trade, with justified exceptions or with appropriate flexibility, will promote sustainable development and contribute to increasing the well-being of populations, reducing poverty and promoting peace and stability. At the same time, this market opening must be accompanied by sound national and international policies that contribute to economic growth and development according to the needs and aspirations of each member. The system was developed in a series of trade negotiations or gatt rounds. The first rounds focused mainly on tariff reductions, but subsequent negotiations focused on other areas such as anti-dumping and non-tariff measures. The Uruguay Round of 1986/94 led to the creation of the WTO. As of June 2012[Update], the future of the Doha Round remained uncertain: the work programme lists 21 issues for which the original deadline of 1 January 2005 has not been met and where the Round is still ongoing. [47] The conflict between free trade in industrial goods and services, but the maintenance of protectionism in agricultural subsidies to domestic agricultural sectors (required by developed countries) and the establishment of fair trade in agricultural products (demanded by developing countries) remain the main obstacles. This impasse has made it impossible to open new WTO negotiations beyond the Doha Development Round.

As a result, there is an increasing number of bilateral free trade agreements between governments. [48] As of July 2012[Update], there were several negotiating groups in the WTO system for agricultural trade negotiations currently at a standstill. [49] The WTO replaced the GATT as a world trade body in 1995, and the current rules stem from the GATT Uruguay Round negotiations that took place from 1986 to 1994. The GATT trade agreements established between 1947 and 1994 (and in particular those negotiated in the Uruguay Round) remain the most important set of rules for multilateral trade in goods. Specific sectors such as agriculture were discussed, as well as issues related to anti-dumping measures. The expansion of the Information Technology Agreement, concluded at the 10th Nairobi Ministerial Conference in 2015, eliminated tariffs on 200 other IT products worth more than $1.3 trillion a year. Another outcome of the conference was the decision to abolish agricultural export subsidies, thus fulfilling one of the main goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal for zero hunger. World Trade Organization. “The top 10 reasons to oppose the World Trade Organization? Criticism, yes. Misinformation, no! (accessed March 30, 2020) Once all the necessary background information has been obtained, the Working Group will focus on issues of divergence between WTO rules and the applicant`s international and domestic trade policy and laws. The Working Party defines the conditions for the accession of the eligible country to the WTO and may consider transitional periods to give countries some leeway to comply with WTO rules. [88] Seven rounds of GATT negotiations took place (1949 to 1979).

The first genuine GATT trade cycles (1947-1960) focused on further tariff reductions. Then, in the mid-sixties, the Kennedy Round produced a GATT anti-dumping agreement and a section on development. The Tokyo Round of the seventies was the first major attempt to remove trade barriers that do not exist in the form of tariffs and to improve the system by adopting a series of agreements on non-tariff barriers that, in some cases, interpreted existing GATT rules and, in other cases, are completely new. Since not all GATT members accepted these plurilateral agreements, they were often informally referred to as “codes”. (With the Uruguay Round, several of these codes were amended and converted into multilateral commitments accepted by all WTO Members. Only four of them remained plurilateral (those relating to government procurement, beef, civil aircraft and dairy products), but in 1997 WTO members agreed to terminate the agreements on beef and dairy products, leaving only two. [27]) Despite attempts in the mid-1950s and 1960s to establish some form of institutional mechanism for international trade, the GATT functioned provisionally for nearly half a century as a semi-institutionalized multilateral treaty regime. [28] Progress has stalled due to differences between developed and major developing countries on issues such as industrial tariffs and non-tariff barriers[43], in particular against and between the EU and the US with regard to the maintenance of agricultural subsidies, which are considered effective barriers to trade. Repeated attempts to revive the talks have proved unsuccessful[44], although the adoption of the Bali Ministerial Declaration in 2013[45] addressed bureaucratic barriers to trade. [46] The GATT continues to exist as the WTO Framework Agreement for Trade in Goods, updated following the Uruguay Round negotiations (a distinction is made between the GATT 1994, the updated parts of the GATT, and the GATT 1947, the original agreement that is still at the heart of the GATT 1994). [29] However, GATT 1994 is not the only legally binding agreement included in the Marrakesh Final Act; A long list of about 60 agreements, annexes, decisions and arrangements was adopted. .