Question

1. What is the World Trade Organization (WTO? When was the WTO created and how is it related to the GATT?
2. Roughly how many countries are members of the WTO and what are the broad issues related to agriculture that are being debated in WTO negotiations?
3. Why does the world need organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO)? In other words, what is the role of the World Trade Organization?

Answer 1

1. WTO is an intergovernmental organisation which is responsible for regulating international trade between the countries. It is the largest international economic organization in the worldworld
2. WTO officially came into existence on Janaury 1 ,1995 , under the Marrakesh agreement which was signed by 123 countries in the previous year. WTO replaced ' General Agreement on Traiffs and Trade' (GATT) in the Uruguay Round in 1994. GATT was an international legal agreement between many countries that promoted free trade and aimed to reduce tariffs and other trade barriers. WTO is a successor of GATT and original GATT text is still under effect under WTO framework.
3. WTO currently has 164 member countries. It has a very popular treaty named ' Agreement on Agriculture (AoA)' .AoA has three main topics for debate : Market access ,Domestic support and Export subsidies . Under market access comes the aim to minimise all trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas, the need to reduce Domestic support by member countries is discussed to promote competitive trade in the world, and under Export subsidies all members are persuaded to reduce all kinds of subsidies to domestic farmers in exporting agricultural goods as many developing countries fail to compete with developed countries .
4. WTO acts as a platform provider to its member countries to helps in services like exports,imports, to conduct business in a peaceful manner. WTO gives the platform where member nations can negotiate with each other regarding the disputes that arises in global trade, signing multilateral free trade agreements,setting the global trade rules so that business goes freely,predictable and peaceful around the world.