The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade

between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the worlds trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. The organization deals with regulation of trade between participating countries; it provides a framework for negotiating and formalizing trade agreements, and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments.[4][5] Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (19861994). The organization is currently endeavoring to persist with a trade negotiation called the Doha Development Agenda (or Doha Round), which was launched in 2001 to enhance equitable participation of poorer countries which represent a majority of the world's population. However, the negotiation has been dogged by "disagreement between exporters of agricultural bulk commodities and countries with large numbers of subsistence farmers on the precise terms of a 'special safeguard measure' to protect farmers from surges in imports. At this time, the future of the Doha Round is uncertain."[6] The WTO has 153 members,[7] representing more than 97% of total world trade[8] and 30 observers, most seeking membership. The WTO is governed by a ministerial conference, meeting every two years; a general council, which implements the conference's policy decisions and is responsible for day-to-day administration; and a director-general, who is appointed by the ministerial conference. The WTO's headquarters is at the Centre William Rappard, Geneva, Switzerland

Functions: Administering WTO trade agreements Forum for trade negotiations Handling trade disputes Monitoring national trade policies Technical assistance and training for developing countries Cooperation with other international organizations

G-20 > Coalition of developing countries pressing for ambitious reforms of agriculture in developed countries with some flexibility for developing countries (not to be confused with the G-20 group of finance ministers and central bank governors, and its recent summit meetings) Issues: Agriculture WTO members (23): Argentina, Bolivia, Plurinational State of, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of, Zimbabwe.

Principles of the trading system

The WTO establishes a framework for trade policies; it does not define or specify outcomes. That is, it is concerned with setting the rules of the trade policy games.[34] Five principles are of particular importance in understanding both the pre-1994 GATT and the WTO:

1. Non-Discrimination. It has two major components: the most favoured nation (MFN) rule,
and the national treatment policy. Both are embedded in the main WTO rules on goods, services, and intellectual property, but their precise scope and nature differ across these areas. The MFN rule requires that a WTO member must apply the same conditions on all trade with other WTO members, i.e. a WTO member has to grant the most favorable conditions under which it allows trade in a certain product type to all other WTO members.[34] "Grant someone a special favour and you have to do the same for all other WTO members."[35] National treatment means that imported goods should be treated no less favorably than domestically produced goods (at least after the foreign goods have entered the market) and was introduced to tackle non-tariff barriers to trade (e.g. technical standards, security standards et al. discriminating against imported goods).[34] Reciprocity. It reflects both a desire to limit the scope of free-riding that may arise because of the MFN rule, and a desire to obtain better access to foreign markets. A related point is that for a nation to negotiate, it is necessary that the gain from doing so be greater than the gain available from unilateral liberalization; reciprocal concessions intend to ensure that such gains will materialise.[36] Binding and enforceable commitments. The tariff commitments made by WTO members in a multilateral trade negotiation and on accession are enumerated in a schedule (list) of concessions. These schedules establish "ceiling bindings": a country can change its bindings, but only after negotiating with its trading partners, which could mean compensating them for loss of trade. If satisfaction is not obtained, the complaining country may invoke the WTO dispute settlement procedures.[35][36] Transparency. The WTO members are required to publish their trade regulations, to maintain institutions allowing for the review of administrative decisions affecting trade, to respond to requests for information by other members, and to notify changes in trade policies to the WTO. These internal transparency requirements are supplemented and facilitated by periodic country-specific reports (trade policy reviews) through the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM).[37] The WTO system tries also to improve predictability and stability, discouraging the use of quotas and other measures used to set limits on quantities of imports.[35] Safety valves. In specific circumstances, governments are able to restrict trade. There are three types of provisions in this direction: articles allowing for the use of trade measures to attain noneconomic objectives; articles aimed at ensuring "fair competition"; and provisions permitting intervention in trade for economic reasons.[37] Exceptions to the MFN principle

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also allow for preferential treatment of developed countries, regional free trade areas and customs unions.[citation needed]

Globalization
Globalization (or globalisation) describes the process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through communication, transportation, and trade. The term is most closely associated with the term economic globalization: the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, the spread of technology, and military presence.[1] However, globalization is usually recognized as being driven by a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural, political, and biological factors.[2] The term can also refer to the transnational circulation of ideas, languages, or popular culture through acculturation. An aspect of the world which has gone through the process can be said to be globalized.

Globalization has various aspects which affect the world in several different ways

Industrial emergence of worldwide production markets and broader access to a range of foreign products for consumers and companies. Particularly movement of material and goods between and within national boundaries. International trade in manufactured goods increased more than 100 times (from $95 billion to $12 trillion) in the 50 years since 1955.[14] China's trade with Africa rose sevenfold during 200007 alone.[15][16] Financial emergence of worldwide financial markets and better access to external financing for borrowers. By the early part of the 21st century more than $1.5 trillion in national currencies were traded daily to support the expanded levels of trade and investment.[17]

As of 20052007, the Port of Shanghai holds the title as the World's busiest port.[18][19][20]

Economic realization of a global common market, based on the freedom of exchange of goods and capital.[21]

Almost all notable worldwide IT companies have a presence in India. Four Indians were among the world's top 10 richest in 2008, worth a combined $160 billion.[22] In 2007, China had 415,000 millionaires and India 123,000.[23]

Job Market- competition in a global job market. In the past, the economic fate of workers was tied to the fate of national economies. With the advent of the information age and improvements in communication, this is no longer the case. Because workers compete in a

global market, wages are less dependent on the success or failure of individual economies. This has had a major effect on wages and income distribution.[24] Political some use "globalization" to mean the creation of a world government which regulates the relationships among governments and guarantees the rights arising from social and economic globalization.[25] Politically, the United States has enjoyed a position of power among the world powers, in part because of its strong and wealthy economy. With the influence of globalization and with the help of the United States own economy, the People's Republic of China has experienced some tremendous growth within the past decade. If China continues to grow at the rate projected by the trends, then it is very likely that in the next twenty years, there will be a major reallocation of power among the world leaders. China will have enough wealth, industry, and technology to rival the United States for the position of leading world power.[2

Outsourcing
A precise definition of outsourcing has yet to be agreed upon. Thus, the term is used inconsistently. However, outsourcing is often viewed as involving the contracting out of a business function commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider.[2] In this sense, two organizations may enter into a contractual agreement involving an exchange of services and payments. Of recent concern is the ability of businesses to outsource to suppliers outside the nation, sometimes referred to as offshoring or offshore outsourcing (which are odd terms because doing business with another country does not mean you have to go offshore.[3][4][5][6][7]) In addition, several related terms have emerged to grasp various aspects of the complex relationship between economic organizations or networks, such as nearshoring, multisourcing[8][9] and strategic outsourcing.[

Reasons
Focus on Core Business Resources (for example investment, people, infrastructure) are focused on developing the core business. For example often organizations outsource their IT support to specialised IT services companies. Cost restructuring Operating leverage is a measure that compares fixed costs to variable costs. Outsourcing changes the balance of this ratio by offering a move from fixed to variable cost and also by making variable costs more predictable. Improve quality Achieve a steep change in quality through contracting out the service with a new service level agreement. Knowledge Access to intellectual property and wider experience and knowledge.[16] Contract Services will be provided to a legally binding contract with financial penalties and legal redress. This is not the case with internal services.[17] Operational expertise Access to operational best practice that would be too difficult or time consuming to develop in-house.

 Access to talent Access to a larger talent pool and a sustainable source of skills, in particular in science and engineering.[3][18] Capacity management An improved method of capacity management of services and technology where the risk in providing the excess capacity is borne by the supplier. Catalyst for change An organization can use an outsourcing agreement as a catalyst for major step change that can not be achieved alone. The outsourcer becomes a Change agent in the process. Enhance capacity for innovation Companies increasingly use external knowledge service providers to supplement limited in-house capacity for product innovation.[18][19] Reduce time to market The acceleration of the development or production of a product through the additional capability brought by the supplier.[20] Commodification The trend of standardizing business processes, IT Services, and application services which enable to buy at the right price, allows businesses access to services which were only available to large corporations. Risk management An approach to risk management for some types of risks is to partner with an outsourcer who is better able to provide the mitigation.[21] Venture Capital Some countries match government funds venture capital with private venture capital for start-ups that start businesses in their country.[22] Tax Benefit Countries offer tax incentives to move manufacturing operations to counter high corporate taxes within another country. Scalability The outsourced company will usually be prepared to manage a temporary or permanent increase or decrease in production. Creating leisure time Individuals may wish to outsource their work in order to optimise their work-leisure balance.[2 Cost savings The lowering of the overall cost of the service to the business. This will involve reducing the scope, defining quality levels, re-pricing, re-negotiation, and cost re-structuring. Access to lower cost economies through offshoring called "labor arbitrage" generated by the wage gap between industrialized and developing nations.

Outsourcing is growing at a rapid rate in the United States, Europe and Asia because
organizations view outsourcing as a way to achieve strategic goals, reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction and provide other efficiency and effectiveness improvements. Like any organizational decision, outsourcing is not free of risk and requires effective management from the outset of the outsourcing evaluation through the life of the contractual relationship. This article outlines fifteen critical factors for successful outsourcing.

1. Define the Objectives Outsourcing must be done carefully, systematically, and with explicit goals. Companies that rush into outsourcing without fully understanding what they hope to gain may find themselves mired in a contractual battle with a chosen vendor or the recipient of services that worsen rather than improve. Sensible reasons to consider outsourcing include both strategic and tactical concerns on both a department and organizational level. Outsourcing might be justifiable for a department with high costs that cannot be reduced or a lack of competency in specific areas. Organizational needs that generate consideration of outsourcing include the ability to compete globally with global services or relief from financial pressures achieved through immediate cost savings. Outsourcing is not an excuse to wash management's hands of a poorly managed, costly, or misunderstood function. Understand the costs of a function and manage it effectively before evaluating its potential for outsourcing. Otherwise, you are probably deciding to outsource for the wrong reason, you may be giving the outsourcing vendor gains you could have reaped, and you may be starting a relationship that is destined to fail. Organizations should consider (or reconsider) the overall merits of selective outsourcing every three to four years. Revisiting outsourcing may be particularly relevant under changing market conditions or when internal, industry, or technology changes have occurred.