The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is the only global international organisation 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.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) was established on January 1, 1995 in Geneva, as a multilateral institution for administering rules for trade among member countries. Prior to 1995, what is today known as WTO was embodied in its earlier avatar as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was established in 1947. India had signed the GATT agreement in the same year.

In 1994 the United States and other countries participating in the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations under the aegis of the GATT, called for the formation of the WTO to embody the new trade disciplines adopted during the negotiations.

The main achievement of the GATT was to gradually lower tariffs on industrial goods from more than 40 per cent on average at the beginning to 3.8 per cent through eight rounds of multilateral trade talks over eight years from 1986 to 1994. The talks ended with the Uruguay Round.

The organisation
The WTO's overriding objective is to help trade flow smoothly, freely, fairly and predictably.

It does this by:

• Administering trade agreements
  
• Acting as a forum for trade negotiations
  
• Settling trade disputes
  
• Reviewing national trade policies
  
• Assisting developing countries in trade policy issues, through technical assistance and training programmes
  
• Co-operating with other international organisations

Structure
The WTO has nearly 148 members, accounting for over 97 per cent of world trade. Around 30 others are negotiating membership.

Decisions are made by the entire membership. This is typically by consensus. A majority vote is also possible but it has never been used in the WTO, and was extremely rare under the WTO's predecessor, GATT. The WTO's agreements have been ratified in all members' parliaments.

The WTO's top level decision-making body is the Ministerial Conference which meets at least once every two years. The Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference will be held in Cancún, Mexico from 10 to 14 September 2003.

Below this is the General Council (normally ambassadors and heads of delegation in Geneva, but sometimes officials sent from members' capitals) which meets several times a year in the Geneva headquarters. The General Council also meets as the Trade Policy Review Body and the Dispute Settlement Body.

At the next level, the Goods Council, Services Council and Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Council report to the General Council.
Numerous specialised committees, working groups and working parties deal with the individual agreements and other areas such as the environment, development, membership applications and regional trade agreements.

Secretariat
The WTO Secretariat, based in Geneva, has around 550 staff and is headed by a director-general. Its annual budget is roughly 155 million Swiss francs. It does not have branch offices outside Geneva. Since decisions are taken by the members themselves, the Secretariat does not have the decision-making role that other inter national bureaucracies are given.

The Secretariat's main duties are to supply technical support for the various councils and committees and the ministerial conferences, to provide technical assistance for developing countries, to analyse world trade, and to explain WTO affairs to the public and media.

The Secretariat also provides some forms of legal assistance in the dispute settlement process and advises governments wishing to become members of the WTO.