IMF

The International Moneytary Fund(IMF) is a major financial agency of the united nations,

and an international financial institution.

Formation: 27December 1945

Type: international financial institution.

Purpose: five purposes of IMF-

1. promote international moneytary cooperation,

2. facilitate international trade,

3. foster sustainable economic growth,

4. make resources available to members experiencing balance of payments

difficulties,

5. prevent and assist with recovery from international financial crises.

Headquarters: Washington, D.C, U.S

Region: worldwide.

Membership: 190 countries (189 UN countries and Kosovo).

Official language: English.

Managing director: Kristalina Georgieva.

Activities: principal activities-

stabilizing currency exchange rates,

 financing the short term balance of payments deficits of member countries,

providing advice and technical assistance to borrowing countries.

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to

the governments of low and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital

projects. The World Bank is the collective name for-

The international bank for reconstruction and development(IBRD)

International development association(IDA)

The international finance corporation(IFC)

The multilateral investment guarantee agency(MIGA)

The international centre for settlement of investment disputes(ICSID)

Established: December 1944

Headquarters: 1818 H Street NW Washington, D.C,U.S

Membership: 189 countries (IBRD)

174 countries (IDA)

President: David Malpass.

How it works?
 Countries can qualify for loans if their GNI, or Gross National Income, is low. But

first, they have to identify a need and develop a plan to utilize the money they

intend to borrow for a capital project.The World Bank is accessible to low-income

countries because, unlike most banks, its loans are interest-free. This means that

although the countries eventually have to pay back the World Bank, they do not

have to pay an additional percentage of what they borrowed.

UNCTAD

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was established as

an intergovernmental organization intended to promote the interests of developing states

in world trade.

UNCTAD is the part of the United Nations Secretariat.

Established: 30 December, 1946.

Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

Membership: 195 member countries.

President: Rebeca Grynspan.

Goals: "maximize the trade, investment and development opportunities of developing

countries and assist them in their efforts to integrate into the world economy on an

equitable basis".
Activities: main activities are dealing with

Trade,

Investment and

Development issues.

WTO

The World Trade Organization is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and

facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and

enforce the rules that govern international trade.

Established: January 1, 1995.

Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

Purpose: Reduction of tariffs and other barriers to trade.

Membership: 164 members (160 UN member states, the European Union, Hong Kong,

Macao, and Taiwan).

Director-General: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Activities: The WTO's core areas of activity are-

Trade negotiations,

Implementation and monitoring of multilateral trade agreements,

Dispute settlement, supporting development and building trade capacity.

While the WTO is driven by its member states, it could not function without the WTO

Secretariat to coordinate its activities.

GATTS

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many

countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or

eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas.

Purpose: "substantial reduction of tariffs and other trade barriers and the elimination of

preferences, on a reciprocal and mutually advantageous basis."

Established: 1 January, 1948.

Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

Activities: covers international trade.

GATT's most important principle was that of trade without discrimination, in which each

member nation opened its markets equally to every other.

On 1 January 1995, the WTO replaced GATT, which had been in existence since 1947, as

the organization overseeing the multilateral trading system.

 TRIPS

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights is an

international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade

Organization.

It establishes minimum standards for the regulation by national governments of different

forms of intellectual property (IP) as applied to nationals of other WTO member

nations. TRIPS was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement

on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) between 1989 and 1990 and is administered by the WTO.

The TRIPS Agreement is important to U.S. interests and has yielded significant benefits

for U.S. industries and individuals, from those engaged in the pharmaceutical, agricultural

chemical, and biotechnology industries to those producing motion pictures, sound

recordings, software, books, magazines, and consumer goods.

Purpose: Ensures that computer programs will be protected as literary works under the

Berne Convention and outlines how databases must be protected under copyright

Established: 15 APRIL, 1994

Headquarters: Marrakesh, Morocco.

Features: The TRIPS Agreement requires Member countries to make patents available for

any inventions, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology without

discrimination, subject to the normal tests of novelty, inventiveness and industrial

applicability.