WTO

WORLD TRADE
GROUP 3

ORGANIZATION
 CONTENTS

OVERVIEW OF WHAT ARE WE WHO WE ARE

1 WTO
WHAT ABOUT WTO
2 3 WHAT DEFINES WTO
MISSION/ VISION

WHAT WE DO WHAT WE STAND FOR WTO LEADERS

4 FUNCTIONS OF WTO
5 6
CORE VALUES OF WTO WHO LEADS WTO

7 WTO BUILDING
WHERE WTO IS LOCATED
 1 OVERVIEW OF WTO
The World Trade Organization (WTO) was
established on January 1, 1995 under an
agreement reached during the Uruaguay
Round of multilateral trade negotiations
The Secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland, and has an annual budget of
approximately CHF 200 million ($180 million,
€130 million). The three official languages of the
WTO are English, French and Spanish.

The WTO currently has 164 members, of

which 117 are developing countries or separate
customs territories. WTO activities are
supported by a Secretariat of some 700 staff,
led by the WTO Director-General.
 2 WHAT ARE
WE(mission/vision)

The World Trade Organization

(WTO) is the only global The goal is to ensure that trade flows as
international organization smoothly, predictably and freely as
dealing with the rules of trade C possible.
A
between nations, whose
primary purpose is to open
trade for the benefit of all.
B

At its heart are the WTO agreements,

negotiated and signed by the bulk of the
world’s trading nations and ratified in their
parliaments.
 3 WHO WE
ARE
The overall objective of the WTO is to help its members use trade as a means to raise living standards,
create jobs and improve people’s lives. The WTO operates the global system of trade rules and helps
developing countries build their trade capacity. It also provides a forum for its members to negotiate
trade agreements and to resolve the trade problems they face with each other.

Improving people’s lives

Maintaining open trade

Negotiating trade rules Overseeing WTO agreements

Settling disputes
 4 WHAT WE DO
The WTO is run by its member governments. All major decisions are made by the
membership as a whole, either by ministers (who usually meet at least once every two years)
or by their ambassadors or delegates (who meet regularly in Geneva).

5 FUNCIONS OF WTO

Trade Implementation Dispute

negotiations and monitoring settlement

Building trade
capacity Outreach
 5 WHAT WE STAND
FOR principles form the foundation of the
A number of simple, fundamental
multilateral trading system.

Non-discrimination Support for less

developed countries

Opening trade
Inclusion

Fair competition
Protection of the
environment
Predictability and
transparency Partnerships

Digital trade
6 WTO LEADERS
• WTO Director-General: Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the seventh Director-General of the
WTO. She took office on 1 March 2021, becoming the first
woman and the first African to serve as Director-General.
Her term of office will expire on 31 August 2025.
 • The WTO General Council
The General Council is the WTO’s highest-level decision-making body in Geneva, meeting
regularly to carry out the functions of the WTO. It has representatives (usually
ambassadors or equivalent) from all member governments and has the authority to act on
behalf of the ministerial conference which only meets about every two years. The current
chair is Ambassador Dacio CASTILLO (Honduras).
 7 WTO BUILDING
LOCATION: Geneva, Switzerland
The WTO building: Centre William
Rappard
The home of the World Trade
Organization. Bearing witness to over
90 years of international cooperation,
the Centre William Rappard (CWR)
was conceived as part of the effort
after World War I to create a League
of Nations and other institutions that
would encourage multilateral
cooperation and the peaceful
resolution of conflicts.
 WTO
Thank you!
GROUP 3