Conclusion: present and future challenges

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.