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World Trade Organization
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The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international organization founded in 1995 to promote global trade in goods, services, and intellectual property. It is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which since 1947 sought to promote international economic growth through the establishment of legally binding rules governing trade between countries. In 1993 GATT held its Uruguay Round negotiations at which it was decided that its final act would further liberalize trade measures and establish a permanent structure, the WTO, to manage international trading procedures and protocols. Ministers meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, in i994 agreed to the final act. Concurrently in Marrakesh, a majority of GATT countries approved the establishment of the WTO. In 1998, 132 countries, including the United States, belonged to the WTO.
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The World Trade Organization is a cooperative, multinational institution designed to protect and promote a rules-based system of global commerce. Though the organization itself is young, its rules, statutes, and regulations have evolved over the last forty years and have formed the basis of the international trade system since the Second World War. In recent years, critics on both the left and the right have criticized the WTO on a range of issues claiming it undermines hard-won local laws, degrades the environment, and destroys jobs. Much of this criticism is based on fundamental misunderstandings about what the WTO does and does not do. Increased openness and transparency on the part of the WTO would not only make the institution more accessible to non-specialists, it would increase common understanding of its vital role in the international economy. Such an understanding would then allow an informed debate about ways to strengthen and reform the WTO to better achieve the ultimate goal of raising living standards well into the next century.
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Since its creation in January 1995, the World Trade Organization has expanded the reach of trade rules deep into the regulatory structure of almost 140 sovereign states. As a result, it has found itself at the centre of controversy in areas that are well outside the domain of traditional trade policy. Although there are demands for reform the architects of the WTO are proud of having created what they consider to be a major achievement in institutionalised global economic co-operation. The central question is how to respond to the pressures now falling on the WTO system while ensuring the preservation of a trading system that has led to unprecedented growth in the world economy. This question is addressed in this book. A number of prominent personalities representing a broad spectrum of interests in the field of international policy-making, and with a strong interest in a well-functioning trading system, offer their views on the role of the WTO in Global Governance.
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The World Trade Organization (WTO) has begun an initiative to create an international database containing the traditional uses of plants and animals. It is hoped that the database will help resolve disputes over whether varieties and species can be commercially patented. this knowledge." Because this is often transmitted orally, said Switzerland, "a database on traditional knowledge could substantially improve this situation." The Swiss paper suggested that the World Intellectual Property Rights Organization operate the database.
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How the thin line was crossed from nonviolent protest to urban disorder was being dissected here Wednesday as the World Trade Organization got down to business. The conclusion: the anarchists were organized. One person in black, who refused to identify himself, said anarchists had planned all along to incite the crowd. At first, the protesters tried to police themselves -- something they said they were incapable of doing once the more militant elements took hold. Veteran demonstrators, who have logged years of protest against corporate retail chains like Nike and Starbucks, suddenly found themselves trying to defend them. 12.2.99) From the New York Times.
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The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established in 1995, as a result of the Uruguay-Round (UR) negotiations (1986-94), replacing the Bretton Woods system of (GATT).1 The UR agreements have posed many challenges to the developing countries. On the internal (domestic) front, these include imperatives to make adjustments in the domestic production and trade regime to stay active in the international market characterized with tough competition. On the external side, the challenges originate ... from the issues related to the WTO framework itself, pertaining to implementation of the built-in agenda, and new issues for coverage under the WTO framework. The developing countries are concerned about the implementation of built-in agenda before new issues are taken up.
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World Trade Organization