What is the World Trade Organization (WTO)?
The World Trade Organization is the mother of all free trade agreements. Ma ny of its components will provide the basis for FTAA negotiations. The WTO came into being in 1995. The WTO is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in the wake of the Second World War . The past 50 years since the establishment of the GATT have seen an excep tional growth in world trade. Merchandise exports grew on average by 6% ann ually. Total trade in 1997 was 14 times the level of 1950. GATT and the WTO were developed through a series of trade negotiations, or rounds, held und er GATT. The first rounds dealt mainly with tariff reductions but later neg otiations included other areas such as anti-dumping and non-tariff measures . The latest round, the 1986 to 1994 Uruguay Round, led to the WTO’s creati on. The negotiations did not end there. Some continued after the end of the Uruguay Round. In February 1997 agreement was reached on telecommunication s services, with
