World trade organisation (WTO) functions and features

 What is the WTO?

WTO stands for The World Trade Organization.It is the only global international organization which is deals  the rules of trade between nations.

The WTO started functioning on 1 January 1995.The WTO is run by its member governments. All major decisions are made by the membership as a whole, either by ministers (who usually meet at least once every two years) or by their ambassadors or delegates (who meet regularly in Geneva).

The director-general of the World Trade Organization is the officer of the World Trade Organization (WTO) responsible for supervising and directing the organization's administrative operations. 

The present Director-general of WTO is Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-lweala.After the resignation of Roberto Azevêdo of Brazil,On February 5, 2021, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria secured the support of the United States for Director-General of the WTO.
and became both the first woman and the first African to hold this position.

FORMATION OF WTO:
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization which regulates international trade. The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948.The WTO deals with regulation of trade between participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements, which is signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments.Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (1986–1994).

The World Trade Organization's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), was established after World War II in the wake of other new multilateral institutions dedicated to international economic cooperation – notably the Bretton Woods institutions known as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. A comparable international institution for trade named the International Trade Organization was successfully negotiated. 


Objectives of WTO

• To set and execute rules for international trade

• To present a panel for negotiating and controlling additional trade liberalization

• To solve trade conflicts

• To improve the clarity of decision-making methods

FEATURES OF WTO:

1. It is a much wider concept than GATT.

2. Each member has a single voting right.

3. Its member enjoys the international privilege.

4. It administers a unified package of an agreement to which all members are committed.

5. It is a forum of discussion between its member countries.


Functions of  WTO:

●Facilitate international trade

• It facilitates international trade through the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers.

• It provides greater market access to all member countries.

●Formulations of rules

• It establishes a rule-based trading regime, in which nations cannot place arbitrary restrictions on trade.

●Protecting the interest of developing countries
• It frames fair global rules, regulations.

• It safeguards and advocates the interests of the developing world.

●Optimum utilisation of world resources

• It is also responsible to increase production and trade of services.

• It ensures optimum utilisation of world resources.


The WTO is headquartered  in Geneva, Switzerland.Its top decision making body is the Ministerial Conference, which is composed of all member states and usually convenes biannually; consensus is emphasized in all decisions. Day-to-day functions are handled by the General Council, made up of representatives from all members.A Secretariat of over 600 personnel, led by the Director-General and four deputies, provides administrative, professional, and technical services.The WTO's annual budget is roughly 220 million USD, which is contributed by members based on their proportion of international trade.

Studies show the WTO has boosted trade and reduced trade barriers.