Overview of The WTO

 Objective of presentation

 WTO: The Beginnings

 Growth in Trade Underway

 A New Multilateral Organization

 The WTO: what is it?

 How does the WTO function?

 Principles of the Trading System

 Provisions for developing countries

 Progressing by packages

 The Round to end all rounds

 The WTO Agreement

 Liberalising trade in goods

 Textiles - back in the mainstream

 Agriculture: fairer markets for all

 Trade remedies

 Standards and procedures

 Administrative procedures

 Services: rules for growth and investment

 Services: the key rules

 Services: Better Access to Markets

 Intellectual Property: protection and enforcement of rights

 TRIPS: what does it cover?

 Settling Disputes: the heart of the system

 Meetings of Ministers

  Singapore Ministerial

 Geneva and Seattle Ministerials

 Doha Ministerial Meeting

 Cancun Ministerial Meeting

 Recent Developments

Geneva and Seattle Ministerials

Meeting in Geneva 1998

The Second Session of the Ministerial Conference was held in Geneva in May 1998. It came at the time when the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the multilateral trading system was being celebrated.

• Planning for the future

While some Ministers emphasized the need to improve the implementation of existing agreements, others wanted a more forward-looking agenda, including the possibility of a new round of negotiations. Ministers decided to establish a process to ensure the implementation of existing agreements, and to prepare for the next ministerial meeting. It was envisaged that recommendations would be made regarding the WTO's work program, including further negotiations on trade liberalization.
• Electronic commerce

At the Geneva meeting, one new subject — electronic commerce — was added to the WTO work programme. Dramatic though its growth and implications may be, electronic commerce falls squarely within the WTO's mandate: the core issue is, however, whether the existing trade rules are adequate to cover it.
• Celebrating 50 years

The occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the multilateral trading system was marked with a number of heads of governments attending this anniversary meeting. They came from all parts of the world: President Clinton from the United States, President Castro from Cuba and President Nelson Mandela from South Africa, just to mention a few .

Meeting in Seattle 1999

• Launching the Millennium Round?

The Third Ministerial Conference took place in the United States, in Seattle in December 1999. It was expected to launch a broad work programme for the first years of the new millennium. A process to prepare for the Seattle Ministerial Conference was organized in Geneva, but despite negotiations it did not result in a consensus text. There was no draft declaration with broad based support to take to Seattle for ministers to launch a new round of negotiations. It became clear that ministers would have to take the critical political decisions necessary to conclude agreement at Seattle itself.
• No millennium round

After some days of discussion in Seattle, it was evident that too little time remained to complete the work of narrowing gaps between the positions of different countries. Regrettably, Ministers had to acknowledge that despite intensive work over the four days of the conference, they had simply run out of time. The work of the conference was formally suspended.
• Public demonstrations

The meeting took place against the backdrop of sometimes violent street demonstrations against the WTO. These demonstration were by non-governmental organizations and other groups such as organized labour. The demonstration considerably hampered the  organization and conducting of meetings.