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World Trade Organization: Countries
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Trade negotiations under the auspices of the WTO seemed to be more intractable in 2003, marked by both success and failure. In September, as member governments remained deadlocked over farm subsidies and the so-called “Singapore” issues, the ministerial conference in Cancún, Mexico, ended without a consensus after five days of consultations. However, WTO members achieved a major breakthrough in the run-up to the September summit by reaching an agreement on the issue of patent protection and access to affordable medicines (see Pharmaceutical Industry). This decision makes it easier for poor countries to import cheaper generics if they do not have the capacity to manufacture essential medicines themselves. While trade officials called on member governments to get back to the negotiating table after the failed talks in Cancún, trading nations increasingly pushed for the conclusion of bilateral and regional free-trade agreements. Nonetheless, WTO members widely supported efforts to get the multilateral negotiations back on track, and in August 2004 a deal was agreed to liberalize global trade by lowering farming subsidies for richer countries and opening markets in more impoverished countries for manufactured products.
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The World Trade Organization was created to create Free Trade benificial to poorer countries like Mexico and the African countries. The only thing they have done is make richer countries richer and the poor poorer.
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The WTO is both a code of rules and a forum for countries to discuss and resolve trade disputes and to continue negotiations toward expanding world trade opportunities. The WTO includes all GATT provisions for trade in goods, including the new rules adopted in the Uruguay Round, plus rules governing trade in services and intellectual property and rules and procedures governing the settlement of disputes. It functions as the principal international body concerned with multilateral negotiations on the reduction of trade barriers and other measures that distort competition. The WTO ... serves as a platform for countries to raise their concerns about trading partners’ policies. The basic aim of the WTO is to liberalize world trade and place it on a secure basis, thereby contributing to economic growth and development.
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The 1986-1994 Uruguay Round of trade talks resulted in an agreement that led to the creation of the World Trade Organization at the beginning of 1995. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it has 145 member countries. The primary function of the WTO is to liberalize trade. The WTO administers trade agreements; provides a forum for trade negotiations and disputes; monitors national trade policies; and provides technical assistance to developing countries.
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The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is responsible for monitoring and enforcing the global trade rules which are agreed by over 130 countries in its membership. The WTO is probably the most powerful of all intergovernmental institutions, having the ability to authorise trade sanctions against governments contravening its agreed rules.
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A country wishing to accede to the WTO submits an application to the General Council, and has to describe all aspects of its trade and economic policies that have a bearing on WTO agreements. The application is submitted to the WTO in a memorandum which is examined by a working party open to all interested WTO Members. After all necessary background information has been acquired, the working party focuses on issues of discrepancy between the WTO rules and the applicant's international and domestic trade policies and laws. The working party determines the terms and conditions of entry into the WTO for the applicant nation, and may consider transitional periods to allow countries some leeway in complying with the WTO rules. The final phase of accession involves bilateral negotiations between the applicant nation and other working party members regarding the concessions and commitments on tariff levels and market access for goods and services. The new member's commitments are to apply equally to all WTO members under normal non-discrimination rules, even though they are negotiated bilaterally.
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