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Identification
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Name
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World Trade Organisation
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Acronym
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WTO
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Logo
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Homepage
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http://www.wto.org/
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General
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Foundation
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1995, but the former General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was founded in 1948
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Staff
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627 persons
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Annual Budget
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183 Million CHF = 124 Million Euros
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About WTO
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- The global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations.
- At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments.
- The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.
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Principles of the trading system
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- Trade without discrimination:
A country should not discriminate between its trading partners (giving them equally “most-favoured-nation” or MFN status); and it should not discriminate between its own and foreign products, services or nationals (giving them “national treatment”.
- Freer trade: gradually, through negotiation:
Barriers should come down through negotiation.
- Predictability: through binding and transparency:
Foreign companies, investors and governments should be confident that trade barriers (including tariffs and non-tariff barriers) should not be raised arbitrarily; tariff rates and market-opening commitments are “bound” in the WTO.
- Promoting fair competition:
“Unfair” practices should be discouraged such as export subsidies and dumping products at below cost to gain market share.
- Encouraging development and economic reform:
Give them more time to adjust, greater flexibility, and special privileges.
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