Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Free Trade the Dream of WTO

The global business environment is very significantly influenced by the WTO principles and agreements.  The GATT, which is the predecessor of WTO, was born in 1948 as a result of the international desire to liberalize the trade.  The Bretton Woods Conference (1944) recommended the establishment of IMF, World Bank and also that of an International Trade Organization (ITO).  IMF and World Bank were established in 1946, but the ITO charter was never ratified.  Instead, GATT had been drawn up only as an interim agreement to fill the gap until the ITO charter ratification, for guiding the international trading system in 1948.  Later on the GATT was transformed into WTO with effect from January, 1995.  The objective of World Trade Organization is to establish a multi-lateral trading system as against the uni-lateral trading system of United States.  Before 1995 the US, through its dominating laws like Super 301 rule, puts trade barriers based on their political interests.  But after 1995, WTO tries to achieve free trade among all the world countries independent of the level of development and region to which they belong.  Even today certain dominating forces and factors undermines the real interest or dream put forth by WTO.
Functions of WTO:
WTO is a member driven organization which aimed at:
* Administering and implementing the multilateral and pluri-lateral trade agreements.
* Acting as a forum for multi lateral trade negotiations.
* Seeking to resolve trade disputes.
* Overseeing national trade disputes, and
* Co-operating with other international institutions involved in global economic policy making. 

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