World Trade Organization (WTO)

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise

and liberalize international trade. In brief, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is
the only international organization dealing with the global rules of trade between
nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably
and freely as possible. The organization deals with regulation of trade between
participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating and formalizing
trade agreements.
The WTO has 153 members, accounting for almost 95% of world trade.
The most important functions of WTO are:1) It oversees the implementation, administration and operation of the covered
agreements.
2) It provides a forum for negotiations and for settling disputes.
3) Technical assistance and training for developing countries.
4) Cooperation with other international organizations.

Goal of WTO: - The goal of WTO is to improve the welfare of the peoples of the
member countries. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters,
and importers conduct their business.

Features of WTO:1) It is a legal entity.

2) It is not an agent of the United Nations.
3) There is no weighted voting, but all the WTO members have equal rights.

4) The agreements under the WTO are permanent and binding to the member
countries.
5) It has a legal and institutional foundation of the multi trading system.
6) The WTO dispute settlement system is based on automatic mechanism. It is
quicker and binding on the members. As such, the WTO is a powerful body.
7) The WTOs approach is rule- based and time-bound.
8) The WTOs have a wider coverage. It covers trade in goods as well as
services.
9) The WTOs have a focus on trade-related aspects of intellectual property
rights and several other issues of agreements.
10) The WTO is a huge organizational body with a large secretariat.