WTO

 THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)

• The most important outcome of the Uruguay Round agreement was the replacement of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) secretariat with the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva with authority not only in trade in industrial products but also in agricultural products and services.
•  The bulk of the WTO's present operations come from the 1986-94 negotiations called the Uruguay Round and earlier negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Despite the fact that the WTO replaced GATT as an international organization, the General Agreement still exists as the WTO’s umbrella treaty for trade in goods, updated as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations.
• The objectives of the WTO Agreements as acknowledged in the preamble of the Agreement creating the World Trade Organization, include “raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effective demand, and expanding the production of and trade in goods and services” 
• The principal objective of the WTO is to facilitate the flow of international trade smoothly, freely, fairly and predictably. The WTO does its functions by acting as a forum for trade negotiations among member governments, administering trade agreements, reviewing national trade policies, assisting developing countries in trade policy issues, through technical assistance and training programmes and cooperating with other international organizations