WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION: AN OVERVIEW

Abstract

The present research paper discusses the World Trade Organization and its role as a facilitator of multilateral trade agreements between its various members. The paper also discusses the history and background of the Organization and how it is the successor to General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The paper also discusses the various agreements under WTO such as Marrakesh Agreement, Multilateral Agreement on Trade in Goods, Agreement on Agriculture, General Agreement on Trade in Services and Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Information Technology agreement and Trade facilitation agreement. The paper then discusses the Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the Organization and the accession to the World Trade Organization. It also discusses the decision making process of the World Trade organization which is mostly done on the basis of the majority vote before Concluding with discussing the growth and challenges by World Trade Organization in the past decade.