According to the original idea, GATT will soon be replaced by a specialized agency of the United Nations called the International Trade Organization (ITO). This international trade organization never came into being, but GATT has achieved great success in relaxing world trade restrictions in the past 50 years. However, by the mid-1990s, many people called for the establishment of stronger multilateral organizations to control trade and settle disputes.
China is one of the founding countries of GATT. 1984 65438+1October 18 China officially became a member of the Agreement on International Textile Trade under GATT. 1984165438+1October16 The GATT Council decided to allow China to participate in the meetings of the Council of Representatives and its subsidiary bodies. China began to participate in informal consultations among developing countries. 1in July, 986, China formally applied to resume its status as a contracting state of GATT. 1987 in February, China formally submitted a memorandum on China's foreign trade system to the GATT Council, and in March, the GATT Council decided to set up a working group on China. 1in June, 1988, China sent an invitation to GATT contracting parties to negotiate tariff concessions. At the meetings of the Working Party in February and April, the State party completed the evaluation of China's foreign trade system. 1993 In February, May and September, the Working Group continued to consider China's economic and trade system and began to discuss the framework of China's resumption of diplomatic relations protocol. However, when the World Trade Organization 1995 was established, China's accession negotiations had not been finalized.
1 99565438+1October1,the World Trade Organization was established, and 104 countries were the founding members. It requires the member countries in charge of supervision to abide by all the original agreements of GATT, including the agreement of the last meeting of Uruguay Round (1986- 1994). According to the resolution of this meeting, the organization of GATT officially ended. The World Trade Organization is also responsible for negotiating and implementing new trade agreements. The World Trade Organization is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The WTO is governed by the Council of Ministers, the General Council and the Director-General. The Council of Ministers meets every two years. The General Council implements the policy decisions of the Council of Ministers and is responsible for daily administrative affairs. The Director-General is appointed by the Council of Ministers.
The World Trade Organization is the product of the Uruguay Round, and it is the only international organization in the world that deals with trade rules between countries. Its core is the WTO agreement. These agreements are signed by most trading countries in the world through negotiation, which provide basic legal rules for international business activities, and their essence is contracts, which bind governments to limit their trade policies within the agreed scope. The basic purpose of the existence of WTO is to make rules by establishing a rule-based system, to help member countries solve trade disputes and to help carry out trade negotiations, so as to make global trade go smoothly. Although these agreements were signed by the government through negotiations, their purpose is to help product manufacturers, service providers and importers and exporters to carry out commercial activities.
Brief introduction of the International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an intergovernmental international financial organization. It was established according to the agreement of the International Monetary Fund adopted at the International Monetary and Financial Conference of the United Nations and its allies held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in July, 1944. It was formally established on February 27th, 1945, and started its business on March 27th, 1947. In the same year165438+1October 15 became a specialized agency of the United Nations, but it has its own independence in operation. So far, the International Monetary Fund has 182 members.
The IMF has five regional departments (Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Western Hemisphere) and 12 functional departments (Administration Department, Central Bank Department, Exchange and Trade Relations Department, External Relations Department, Financial Affairs Department, IMF Research Institute, Legal Affairs Department, Research Department, Secretariat Department, Treasurer Department, Statistics and Language Service Bureau). Its purpose is to consult and cooperate on international financial issues as a permanent institution and promote international monetary cooperation; Promote the expansion and balanced development of international trade; Promote and maintain high-level employment, development of productive resources and real income of member States; Promote the stability of international exchange, maintain orderly exchange rate arrangements among member countries, and prevent the devaluation of competitive currencies; Assist member countries to establish multilateral payment rules in current account transactions, remove obstacles that prevent member countries from providing ordinary funds temporarily, so that they can correct the imbalance of international payments, instead of taking measures that endanger their own or international prosperity, shorten the time and reduce the imbalance of international payments.
The main business activities of the International Monetary Fund include: providing loans to members, promoting international cooperation on monetary issues, studying related issues of the reform of the international monetary system, studying and expanding the role of the International Monetary Fund, providing technical assistance, and strengthening ties with other international institutions.