1. Overview of WTO
The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established on January 1, 1995, and its predecessor was the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Its headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland. WTO is the largest multilateral trade organization in the world, with 137 members, whose trade volume accounts for more than 95% of world trade. WTO, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are called the "three pillars" of the current world economic system. GATT*** presided over eight rounds of multilateral trade negotiations. The latest and longest round was called Uruguay Round, which started in 1986 and lasted for seven and a half years. One of its important achievements was the establishment of WTO.
2. Basic functions of the WTO
-Formulating and standardizing international multilateral trade rules
-Organizing multilateral trade negotiations
-Resolving trade disputes among its members
3. Purpose, objectives and status of the WTO
The purpose of the WTO is to improve living standards, ensure full employment, substantially and steadily increase real income and effective demand, and expand the production and trade of goods and services. According to the purpose of sustainable development, we should make the best use of world resources, protect the environment, and take various corresponding measures in different ways according to different levels of economic development; Actively strive to ensure that developing countries, especially the least developed countries, get a share in the growth of international trade commensurate with their economic development needs.
The specific goal of WTO is to establish a complete, more dynamic and permanent multilateral trading system, so as to consolidate the efforts made by the original GATT for trade liberalization and all the achievements of the Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations. In order to achieve these goals, members should effectively reduce tariffs and other trade barriers and eliminate discriminatory treatment in international trade through mutually beneficial arrangements.
the status of the WTO is: the WTO is an international organization with legal person status. Compared with its predecessor, GATT, the WTO has higher authority and effectiveness in mediating disputes among its members.
4. Organization of the WTO
The highest decision-making authority of the WTO is the Council of Ministers, which meets at least once every two years and can make decisions on all matters of multilateral trade agreements. The Council of Ministers has a General Council and a Secretariat, which are responsible for the daily meetings and work of the WTO. The General Council has three councils on trade in goods, trade in services and intellectual property, and three committees on trade and development, balance of payments and administrative budget. The Secretariat shall have a Director-General.
5. Achievements made since the establishment of the WTO
1). Implementing the Uruguay Round Agreement and continuing to negotiate the framework agreement
In addition to reducing tariffs in accordance with the agreed tariff schedule, 43 WTO members agreed on March 26, 1997 to gradually eliminate tariffs on information technology products from July 1, 1997 to 2, involving a trade volume of about 6 billion US dollars. The Group of Seven and the European Union agreed to implement zero-tariff treatment for 465 drugs.
at the same time, the WTO has decided to hold negotiations on two key areas of agricultural products and service trade before January 1, 2. So far, four important agreements have been reached through negotiations: ① the agreement on the movement of natural persons on July 28, 1995; ② On February 15th, 1997, 69 countries reached an agreement on basic telecommunication services, which took effect on February 15th, 1998; ③ On March 26th, 1997, 43 countries reached an agreement on tariff concession for information technology products; On December 12, 1997, 7 countries reached a multilateral financial agreement, agreeing to open their financial services, which includes more than 95% of the trade in banking, insurance, securities and financial information. The agreement will take effect on March 1, 1999.
2) solving trade disputes among members
by November 1996, the WTO had accepted 62 trade disputes, and the trade disputes accepted within two years were equivalent to those accepted by the former GATT in 5 years? Above; Moreover, among the 62 trade disputes, developing member parties acted as complainants in 2 cases, accounting for 32.29%, and as defendants in 24 cases, accounting for 38.7%. Of the 238 trade disputes accepted by the former GATT, developing parties as complainants and accused accounted for only 25.6%.
3) Hold high-level meetings to help LDC members solve trade development problems
In October 1997, the WTO, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank held high-level meetings on the trade development of LDCs to explore ways to help solve the problems of market access, trade-related technical assistance, training and intellectual construction of LDCs. Nine WTO members announced that they would take the initiative to improve market access measures for imports from the least developed countries, such as reducing product import restrictions, expanding existing tariff schedules, focusing on textiles and agricultural products, and greatly simplifying additional conditions. Other WTO members also indicated that they would take corresponding actions.
4) Holding ministerial meetings to solve problems in the development of the multilateral trading system
The first ministerial meeting of the WTO was held in Singapore from 9 to 13 December 1996. The meeting set up three working groups (trade and investment, trade and competition policy, and transparency of government procurement) and issued the "Singapore Ministerial Declaration" on trade liberalization of information technology products.
The Second Ministerial Conference of WTO and the 5th anniversary of the multilateral trading system were held in Geneva from May 18 to 2, 1998. The meeting mainly focused on the implementation of the Uruguay Round agreements, the agenda of the next ministerial conference and the preparations for launching a new round of multilateral trade negotiations. The Ministerial Declaration adopted by this ministerial meeting not only summarizes the role played by the multilateral trading system in the past half century, but also makes arrangements for the new round of multilateral trade negotiations, and welcomes applicants to join the WTO as soon as possible. The meeting decided to hold the third ministerial meeting in the United States at the end of 1999, and elected US Trade Representative Basevski as the next chairman. The Ministerial Declaration emphasizes that the key to solving the chaotic problems such as the Asian financial crisis in 1997 is to implement trade liberalization in accordance with the articles of association of the WTO and resolutely oppose the tendency of trade protectionism. At this meeting, a specific agreement was also reached-all WTO members will be duty-free for e-commerce on the Internet for at least one year.
From November 3th to December 3rd, 1999, the Third Ministerial Conference of WTO was held in Seattle, USA. According to the Uruguay Round agreement and the understanding reached by all parties before the ministerial meeting, the agenda of the new round of multilateral trade negotiations includes "established agenda" and "new issues". The "established agenda" mainly refers to the further opening of trade in agricultural products and services. Among the "new topics", there are some topics that all parties have a certain understanding of, including competition policy, trade facilitation, e-commerce, and transparency of government procurement. However, a few western countries, such as the United States, tried their best to bring labor standards and other issues into the new round of negotiations, which was resolutely resisted by the vast number of developing countries. Therefore, the meeting failed to reach an agreement and the efforts to start a new round of multilateral trade negotiations failed.