World Trade Organization

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international organization dedicated to supervising and opening up world trade. Its predecessor was the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in 1947. The WTO covers trade in goods, services and intellectual property rights, while GATT only applies to trade in goods. The basic principle and purpose of the WTO is to promote and realize the goal of world trade liberalization by implementing the principles of market openness, non-discrimination and fair trade. The scope of WTO agreement includes many contents, such as agriculture, textiles and clothing, service industry, government procurement, rules of origin and intellectual property rights. WTO is an international organization with legal person status. He has higher authority and effectiveness in regulating disputes among members.

The World Trade Organization is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Its basic functions are: to manage and implement the multilateral and plurilateral trade agreements that constitute the WTO; As a forum for multilateral trade negotiations; Seek to resolve trade disputes; Supervise members' trade policies and cooperate with other international institutions related to the formulation of global economic policies. Its highest authority is the Council of Ministers, which meets at least once every two years. There is a general Council and a secretariat, which are responsible for the daily meetings and work of the WTO. The General Council consists of three councils, namely, trade in goods, trade in services and intellectual property rights, and three committees, namely, trade and development, balance of payments and administrative budget. The Secretariat has a Director-General. On June 29th, the WTO established a seven-member Court of Appeal for Arbitration, 1995, 165438, to arbitrate disputes among WTO members.

The WTO has 134 members, and the current director-general is Michael Kennedy Moore of New Zealand.

As far as I know, most developed countries in the world have joined the WTO.

Except (Russia and some Eastern European countries)

Most countries that are not involved are in Africa.