INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

1. India Brazil South Africa (IBSA)

The idea of IBSA emerged during the discussion among the Heads of State of three countries,
which took place at G-8 meeting in 2003. As a follow-up measure, the foreign ministers of India,
Brazil and South Africa met a Brasilia on June 6, 2003 and decided to establish this forum. The
Brasilia Declaration signed at this time demanded the reform of UN Security Council and making
the process of globalization more inclusive, integrative, humane and equitable.

Objectives : IBSA aims to pursue the following objectives1. To present common position of developing countries in different international forums.
2. To promote South-South cooperation among developing countries.
3. To promote trilateral cooperation in broad range of areas namely agriculture, climate
change, culture, defence, education, energy, health, information technology, science and
technology, social development, trade and investment, tourism and transport.
4. To promote trilateral exchange of information among three countries to complement each
others competitive strength to ensure collective synergy.

IBSA Summits

S.No.

Place

Host country

Time

First

Brasilia

Brazil

Sep. 2006

Second

Tshwane

South Africa

Oct. 2007

Third

New Delhi

India

Oct. 2008

Fourth

Brasilia

Brazil

April 2010

Fifth

Tshwane

South Africa

18 Oct 2011

Sixth

Proposed

India

2013

Note : IBSA Summits are held usually on annual basis in a place rotating among three
member states.

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Fifth IBSA Summit: October 18, 2011.

So far five IBSA Summits have been held. The fifth IBSA Summit was held at Tshwane in South
Africa on Oct. 18, 2011. It was attended by Jacob Zuma, the President of South Africa, Dr.
Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India and Dilma Rouseff, the newly elected President of
Brazil. The Summit deliberated upon many important global, regional and trilateral issues of
common interest. The Tshwane Declaration issued at the end of this Summit concerns,
viewpoints and future plans of IBSA members. Tshwane Declaration noted that IBSA brings
together three large, pluralistic, multicultural and multi-racial societies from three continents, i.e.
Asia, South America and Africa; as a purely South-South grouping of likeminded countries
committed to inclusive sustainable development, in pursuit of well-being of their peoples. They
further noted that IBSA is the shared vision of three countries that democracy and development
and mutually reinforcing and key to sustainable peace and stability.

2. World Trade Organization (WTO)

It is established in January 1, 1995

1. Its Headquarters at Geneva (Switzerland)
2. It was created by Uruguay Round Negotiations (1986 1994)
3. Member states 153 Countries as on February 10, 2011
4. Budget: 196 million Swiss francs for 2011
5. Head Pascal Lamy (Director General)
6. Objective It is an international organization whose primary purpose is to open trade for
the benefit of all.

The WTO provides a forum for negotiating agreements aimed at reducing obstacles to
international trade and ensuring a level playing field for all, thus contributing to economic growth
and development. The WTO also provides a legal and institutional framework for the
implementation and monitoring of these agreements, as well as for settling disputes arising from
their interpretation and application. The current body of trade agreements comprising the WTO
consists of 16 different multilateral agreements (to which all WTO members are parties) and two
different plurilateral agreements (to which only some WTO members are parties).

The WTO was born out of negotiations, and everything the WTO does is the result of
negotiations. The bulk of the WTOs current work comes from the 1986 94 negotiations called
the Uruguay Round and earlier negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT). The WTO is currently the host to new negotiations, under the Doha Development
Agenda launched in 2001.

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Where countries have faced trade barriers and wanted them lowered, the negotiations have
helped to open markets for trade. But the WTO is not just about opening markets, and in some
circumstances its rules support maintaining trade barriers for examples, to protect consumers
or prevent the spread of disease.

3. ORGANISATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES (OPEC)

The

organization

of

the

Petroleum

Exporting

Countries

(OPEC)

is

permanent,

intergovernmental Organisation, created at the Baghdad Conference on September 10-14,

1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The five Founding Members were later
joined by nine other Members : Qatar (1961); Indonesia (1962); United Arab Emirates (1967);
Algeria (1969); Nigeria (1971); Eduador (1973) suspended its membership from December
1992 October 2007; Angola (2007) and Gabon (1975 1994), OPEC had its headquarters in
Geneva, Switzerland, in the first five years of its existence. This was moved to Vienna, Austria
and September 1, 1965

OPECs objective is to coordinate and unify petroleum policies among Member Countries, in
order to secure fair and stable prices for petroleum producers; an efficient, economic and regular
supply of petroleum to consuming nations; and a fair return on capital to those investing in the
industry.

In accordance with its Statute, the mission of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) is to coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of its Member Countries and
ensure the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply
of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers and a fair return on capital for those
investing in the petroleum industry.

Sovereigns and Heads of State of OPEC Member Countries (MCs) do not meet regularly.
However, when they do meet, the impact is felt beyond the confines of the Organizations MCs
and for decades too. Such meetings also have the tendency to affect lives in a positive way.

HEAD : Abdalla Salem El-Badri.

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4. INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE (ICJ)

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It
was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946.

The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six principal
organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York.

The Courts role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by
States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations
organs and specialized agencies.

The Court is composed of 15 judges, who are elected for terms of office of nine years by the
United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council. It is assisted by a Registry, its
administrative organ.

Its official languages are English and French.

Article 33 of the United Nations Charter lists the following methods for the pacific settlement of
disputes between States : negotiation, enquiry, mediation conciliation, arbitration, judicial
settlement, and resort to regional agencies or arrangements; good offices should also be added
to this list. Among these methods, certain involve appealing to third parties. For example,
mediation places the parties to a dispute in a position in which they can themselves resolve their
dispute thanks to the intervention of a third party. Arbitration goes further, in the sense that the
dispute is submitted to the decision or award of an impartial third party, so that a binding
settlement can be achieved. The same is true of judicial settlement (the method applied by the
international Court of Justice), except that a court is subject to stricter rules than an arbitral
tribunal, particularly in procedural matters.

The President of ICJ Judge : Hisashi Owada (Japan).

5. NATO

NATO was founded by the treaty of Washington which was signed on April 4, 1949.

NATO played an active role during cold war era as a major collective security alliance of western
bloc led by the U.S.A. After the end of cold war, it existed and expanded as a single largest
collective security alliance for maintaining peace and security in different parts of the world. Both
its role and size have expanded in the post cold war era.

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The Treaty of Brussels signed on March 1948 is considered precursor to NATO. This treaty was
signed by five countries namely Belgium, the Netherlands, Luzembourg, France and the United
Kingdom. These five states along with seven other nations USA, Canada, Portugal, Italy,
Norway, Denmark and Ireland were the original founders of NATO.

NATO has been the military vanguard of US block against the communist bloc led by the USSR
during the cold war period. After the end of cold war and disintegration of the USSR. NATO got
fertile ground to expand to Eastern Europe.

At present its 28 members are : Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic
Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovania, Spain,
Turkey the UK and the USA.

Albania and Croatia joined on April 1, 2009. The new membership of NATO has come from the
Eastern Europe and Balkans including and former members of WARSAW pact, which was
disbanded in 1992.

NATOs Headquarters is located at Brussels, the capital of Belgium. Its apex structure consists
of NATO Parliament, NATO council and two commands.

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly consists of legislature from member countries as well as
Thirteen Associate member states. The Assembly is the political integration body of NATO that
deliberates in the political policy agenda of NATO. Thus, it is responsible for setting broad
strategic goals of NATO. It holds two meetings in a year.

7. Association of South East Asian Nations ( ASEAN )

ASEAN or the Association of South East Asian Nations was founded on Aug.8, 1967 at Bangkok
by five founder members : Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia.
Brunei joined in 1984, Vietnam in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997 and Cambodia joined
ASEAN in 1999. Thus, at present, it has ten members.

According to the charter of ASEAN, it has following objectives:

1. It aims to promote economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the
region.
2. To facilitate among members the cooperation in economic, social and cultural fields.
3. To provide a forum for the peaceful settlement of disputes among member states.
4. To promote peace and stability in the region.

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ASEAN has gradually expanded its activities from economic cooperation to security matters and
community building. It has tried to involve non-member nations in its activities; which play
significant role in the region. Thus, in 1997, it founded ASEAN + 3 mechanism in which three
leading countries of this region-Japan, China and South Korea are also actively involved in its
activities.

1st 1976, Hanoi; 2nd 1977, Kuala Lumpur; 3rd 1987, Manila; 4th 1992; Singapore; 5th
th

th

th

1995, Bangkok; 6 1998, Hanoi; 7 2001, Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei); 8 2002, Phnom
Penh; 9th 2003, Bali; 10th 2004, Vientiane (Cambodia); 11th 2005, Kuala Lumpur; 12th
2007, Cebu (Philippines); 13th 2007, Singapore; 14th 2009, Chaam Hua Hin (Thailand); 15th
2009, Chaam Hua Hin; 16th 2010, Hanoi; 17th 2010 (Oct.) Hanoi.

The 18th Summit of ASEAN was held at Jakarta in May 2011.

In the post-cold war era, ASEAN has achieved impressive success in regional cooperation and
economic development. With the exception of European community by reducing trade barriers
and developing connectivity and interaction among all the leading members of the region.