About the WTO

The WTO held its Tenth Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in 2015 the first time such a meeting has been held in Africa. Ministers took a number of decisions on agriculture cotton and issues related to least-developed countries. These included a historic decision to abolish export subsidies for farm exports.

The World Trade Report 2007 has traced sixty years of multilateral trade co-operation starting with the birth of the GATT on 1 January 1948. The world has changed a good deal over those six decades and so too has the multilateral trading system. Globalization has brought economic interaction among nations closer than ever before thanks in no small part to revolutions in information and transport technology and growing openness in government policy. The trend towards increased inter-dependency has rendered international economic co-operation more complex and multi-faceted. Co-operation among nations has become harder to manage and more influential in shaping the circumstances in which people live. The subject matter covered by the system has expanded significantly and many more players are involved in shaping the system. The 23 original signatories of the GATT have now become the 151 Members of the WTO.

Les conseils et comités de l’OMC ont continué de suivre la mise en oeuvre des Accords de l’OMC et d’examiner si les Membres en respectaient les prescriptions. Ils ont aussi servi de cadre à l’examen de questions aussi variées que le commerce et le changement climatique et la crise des prix des produits alimentaires. Les Membres de l’OMC ont procédé à 17 examens des politiques commerciales en 2008.

En 2010 el Comité de Asuntos Presupuestarios Financieros y Administrativos revisó el presupuesto para el bienio 2010-2011 y examinó asuntos relacionados con el proyecto de construcción de la OMC la diversidad del personal de la OMC y los planes de pago para los Miembros muy atrasados en el pago de sus contribuciones.

Treaty interpretation is a practical and fascinating aspect of most dispute settlement proceedings involving an international treaty. The importance of treaty interpretation is highlighted by the ever-increasing number of international treaties and agreements – such as the more than 2800 bilateral treaties for the protection of investments (BITs) more than 400 free trade agreements (FTAs) and the approximately sixty agreements understandings and decisions composing the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO Agreement). The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (Vienna Convention)1 comprises a single set of rules applying to treaty interpretation. These rules of interpretation of public international law many of which have become customary are accepted worldwide as the tool for interpreting international treaties.

In 2013 the Committee on Trade and Environment discussed and received information on a broad range of environmental policy developments from environmental footprint and labelling schemes including carbon footprints to green economy policy initiatives and multilateral environmental agreements with trade-related provisions. The WTO Secretariat issued the environmental databases for 2010 and 2011 and updated the “Matrix on trade-related measures pursuant to selected multilateral environmental agreements”.

El número de reuniones de información y conferencias de prensa aumentó fuertemente en 2013 por el interés de los medios de comunicación en el proceso de selección del Director General y la Novena Conferencia Ministerial de la OMC. El número de periodistas inscritos para utilizar la sala de prensa del sitio Web de la OMC ascendió en total a 2.213. Además la OMC organizó diversas actividades de formación para periodistas.