The document provides information about the World Trade Organization (WTO). It discusses that the WTO is the international organization that oversees global trade rules between nations. The WTO was established on January 1, 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations from 1986 to 1994. It is located in Geneva, Switzerland and currently has 160 member countries. The document then lists all member countries and their accession dates in a table. It provides details on the objectives, functions, and impact of the WTO on countries like India. It also discusses WTO ministerial conferences and India's position on not diluting the Doha development agenda.

1. World Trade Organization
Presented By :
Vibhor Agarwal

2. Meaning of WTO
“From the money in our pockets and
the goods and services that we use,
to a more peaceful world-the WTO
and the trading system offers a range
of benefits, some well-known ,
others not so obvious.”

3. Meaning of WTO
The world trade organization is only
international organization dealing with the
global rules of the trade between nations. Its
main function is to ensure that trade flows as
smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.
At its heart are the WTO agreements,
negotiated and signed by the bulk of the
world's trading nations and ratified in their
parliaments.

4. Establishment of WTO
It was established on 1st January 1995
As a result of the Uruguay round negotiations
(1986-1994)
Located in Geneva, Switzerland

5. List of member and accession dates
The WTO currently has 160 members. The
following table lists all current members and their
accessions dates.
Albania 8 September 2000
Angola 23 november 1996
Antigua and Barbuda 1 january 1995
Argentina 1 january 1995
Countries Date of accession

6. Armenia 5 February 2003
Australia 1 january 1995
Austria 1 january 1995
Bahrain 1 january 1995
Bangladesh 1 january 1995
Barbados 1 january 1995
Countries Date of accession

7. Belgium 1 january 1995
Belize 1 january 1995
Benin 22 February 1996
Bolivia 12 September 1995
Botswana 31 may 1995
Brazil 1 january 1995
Brunei Darussalam 1 january 1995
Countries Date of accession

8. Bulgaria 1 December 1996
Burkina Faso 3 June 1995
Burundi 23 July 1995
Cambodia 13 October 2004
Cameroon 13 December 1995
Canada 1 january 1995
Cape Verde 23 July 2008
Central African republic 31 may 1995
Countries Date of accession

9. Chad 19 October 1996
Chile 1 January 1995
China 11 December 2001
Colombia 30 April 1995
Republic of the Congo 27 march 1997
Democratic republic of the Congo 1 january
1997
Countries Date of accession

10. Costa rica 1 January 1995
Cote d’Ivoire 1 January 1995
Croatia 30 november 2000
Cuba 20 April 1995
Cyprus 30 July 1995
Czech republic 1 January 1995
Denmark 1 January 1995
Djibouti 31 May 1995
Countries Date of accession

11. Dominica 1 January 1995
Dominica republic 9 March 1995
Ecuador 21 January 1996
Egypt 30 June 1995
El salvador 7 May 1995
Estonia 13 November 1999
European union 1 January 1995
Fiji 14 January 1996
Countries Date of accession

12. Finland 1 January 1995
France 1 January 1995
Gabon 1 January 1995
Gambia 23 October 1996
Georgia 14 June 2000
Ghana 1 January 1995
Greece 1 January 1995
Countries Date of accession

13. Grenada 22 February 1996
Guatemala 21 July 1995
Guinea 25 October 1995
Guinea- bissau 31 May 1995
Guyana 1 January 1995
Haiti 30 January 1996
Honduras 1 January 1995
Hing-kong, china 1 January 1995
Countries Date of accession

14. Hungary 1 January 1995
Iceland 1 January 1995
India 1 January 1995
Indonesia 1 January 1995
Ireland 1 January 1995
Israel 21 April 1995
Italy 1 January 1995
Jamaica 9 March 1995
Countries Date of accession

15. Japan 1 January 1995
Kenya 11 April 2000
Republic of korea 1 January 1995
Kuwait 1 January 1995
Kyrgyzstan 1 January 1995
Laos 20 December 1998
Latvia 2 February 2013
Lesotho 10 February 1999
Countries Date of accession

16. Liechtenstein 31 May 1995
Lithuania 1 September 1995
Luxembourg 31 May 2001
Macau, china 1 January 1995
Republic of macedonia 4 April 2003
Madagascar 17 November 1995
Malawi 31 May 1995
Malaysia 1 January 1995
Countries Date of accession

17. Maldives 31 May 1995
Mali 31 May 1995
Malta 1 January 1995
Mauritania 31 May 1995
Mauritius 1 January 1995
Mexico 1 January 1995
Moldova 26 July 2001
Mongolia 29 January 1997
Countries Date of accession

18. Montenegro 29 April 2012
Morocco 1 January 1995
Mozambique 26 August 1995
Myanmar 1 January 1995
Namibia 1 January 1995
Nepal 23 April 2004
Netherlands 1 January 1995
New zealand 1 January 1995
Countries Date of accession

19. Nicaragua 3 September 1995
Niger 13 December 1996
Nigeria 1 January 1995
Norway 1 January 1995
Oman 9 November 2000
Pakistan 1 January 1995
Panama 6 September 1997
Papua new guinea 9 June 1996
Countries Date of accession

20. Paraguay 1 January 1995
Peru 1 January 1995
Philippines 1 January 1995
Poland 1 July 1995
Portugal 1 January 1995
Qatar 13 January 1996
Romania 1 January 1995
Russia 22 August 2012
Countries Date of accession

21. Rwanda 22 May 1996
Saint Kitts and nevis 21 February 1996
Saint lucia 1 January 1995
Saint Vincent and the grenadines
1 January 1995
Samoa 10 May 2012
Saudi arabia 11 December 2005
Senegal 1 January 1995
Countries Date of accession

22. Sierra leone 23 July 1995
Singapor 1 January 1995
Slovakia 1 January 1995
Slovenia 30 July 1995
Solomon islands 26 July 1996
South africa 1 January 1995
Spain 1 January 1995
Sri lanka 1 January 1995
Countries Date of accession

23. Suriname 1 January 1995
Swaziland 1 January 1995
Sweden 1 January 1995
Switzerland 1 July 1995
Separate customs territory of Taiwan, Penghu,
kinsmen and matsu 1 January 2002
Tajikistan 2 March 2013
Tanzania 1 January 1995
Countries Date of accession

24. Tanzania 1 January 1995
Thailand 1 January 1995
Togo 31 May 1995
Tongo 27 July 2007
Trinidad and tobago 1 March 1995
Tunisia 29 March 1995
Turkey 26 March 1995
Uganda 1 January 1995
Countries Date of accession

25. Ukraine 16 May 2008
United Arab emirates 10 April 1996
United kindom 1 January 1995
United states 1 January 1995
Uruguay 1 January 1995
Vanuatu 24 August 2012
Venezuela 1 January 1995
Vietnam 11 January 2007
Countries Date of accession

26. Yemen 26 June 2014
Zambia 1 January 1995
Zimbabwe 5 march 1995
Countries Date of accession

27. Evolution of WTO
The Uruguay Round of GATT( 1986-93) gave
birth to WTO.
The members of GATT signed on an
agreement of Uruguay Round in April 1994 in
Morocco for establishing WTO.
It was officially constituted on Jan 1,1995
which took place of GATT as an effective
formal organization.

28. Contrary to the temporary nature of GATT,
WTO is a permanent organization which has
been established on the basis of an
international treaty approved by participating
countries.
It achieved the international status like IMF
and IBRD, but it is not an agency of the United
Nations Organization (UNO).

29. Objectives of WTO
To help trade flow as freely as possible.
To monitor national trade policies.
To ensure optimum utilization of world resources.
To accept the concept of sustainable
development.
To ensure full employment & broad increase in
effective demand.
To enlarge production & trade of goods.

30. Functions of WTO
Acting as a forum for trade negotiations.
Setting trade disputes.
Administering trade agreements.
Reviewing national trade policies.
Cooperating with other international
organization.
Assisting developing countries in trade policy,
issues through technical assistance.

31. How to become a member of WTO?
Article XII of the WTO Agreement states that
accession to the WTO will be “on terms to be
agreed” between the acceding government
and the WTO.
Accession to the WTO is essentially a process
of negotiation — quite different from the
process of accession to other international
entities, like the IMF, which is largely an
automatic process.

32. Because each accession Working Partly takes
decisions by consensus, all interested WTO
Members must be in agreement that their
individual concerns have been met and that
outstanding issues have been resolved in the
course of their bilateral and multilateral
negotiations.
All documentation examined by the accession
Working Party during the process of negotiation
remains restricted until completion of the
process.

34. Impact of the world trade
organization on Indian Economy
The world trade organization was established to
deal with all the major aspects of international
trade and it had far reaching effects not only on
India’s foreign trade but also on its internal
economy.
The impact of WTO on the Indian economy can
be analyzed on the basis and general concepts.

35. IMPACT
The WTO has both favorable and non favorable
impact on the Indian economy.

36. FAVOURABLE IMPACT
Increase in export earning:- Increase in export
earning can be viewed from growth in
merchandise export and growth in service export.
Growth in merchandise export:- The
estiblishment of the WTO has increased the
export of developing countries because of
reduction in tariff and non tariff barriers. India’s
merchandise export has increased from 32 billion
US dollar (1995) to 185 billion US dollar (2008-
2009).

37. Growth and service export:- WTO introduced the
(GATS) General Agreement on Trade in Service
that proved beneficial for countries like India,
India’s service export increased from 5 billion US
dollar (1995) to 102 billion US dollar (2008-2009)
software service accounted for 45% of India’s
service

38. Agricultural Exports
Reduction of trade barriers and domestic
subsidies rise the price of agricultural product
in international market, India hopes to benefit
from this in the form of higher export earning
from agriculture.

39. Textile and Clothing
The phasing out of the MFA will largely benefit
the textiles sector. It will help the developing
countries like India increase the export of
textile and clothing.

40. Foreign Direct Investment
As per the TRIMs agreement, restrictions on
foreign investment have been withdrawn by
the member nation of the WTO. This has
benefited developing country by way of direct
investment euro equities and portfolio
investment in 2008-2009, the net foreign
direct investment in India was 35 billion US
dollar.

41. Unfavorable Impact
1. TRIPs –
Protection of intellectual property rights
has been one of the major concerns of the
WTO.As a member of the WTO, India has to
comply with the TRIPs standards.
However, the agreement on TRIPs goes
against the Indian patent act,1970, in the
following ways.

42. PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR: Under the Indian
patent act, 1970 only process patent are grinded
to chemicals, drugs and medicines. Thus, a
company can legally manufacture once it had the
product patent so Indian pharmaceutical
companies could sell good quality
product(medicines) at low prices.

43. 2. TRIMS: The agreement on TRIMS also favors
developed nations as there are no rules in the
agreement to formulate international rules for
controlling business practices of foreign investors.
3. GATES: The agreement on GATES will also favor the
developed nations more. Thus, the rapidly growing
service sector in India will now have to compete with
giant foreign firms.
4. TRADE AND NON TARRIF BARRIERS: Reduction of
trade and non tariff barriers has adversely affected
the exports of various developing nations. Various
Indian products have been hit by non tariff barriers.

44. Current WTO Chairperson
Officially, each council committee or working party
elects its own chairperson. However to ensure a
good distribution of appointments over all these
bodies, informal conclusions are held to produce
consensus on slates of chairperson in three groups:
Those directly involving the General Council
(Including the bodies reporting to the trade
negotiating committee). Those reporting to the
Goods Council: and those reporting to the services
council.

45. WTO Chairs Programme
The WCP is advised by the advisory board, and
external body composed of experienced scholars.
By involving this external body, the WTO seeks to
ensure the academic quality of outputs generated
by Chair holders.
The WTO chair program was launched in 2010. It
aims to enhance knowledge and understanding of
the trading system among academics and policies
maker in developing countries through curriculum
development, research and outreach

46. activities by universities and research institutions.
Academic institution awarded WTO Chairs receive
support in the area of curriculum development,
research and outreach activities. The chair holders
are selected through a competitive process. 14
institutions were originally selected as WTO chairs
for a four-year terms in 2009.

47. The ministerial conference is the top decision
making body of the World Trade
Organization(WTO). There have been 9
conferences from 1996-2013, usually every 2
years.

48. Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference
At the ninth ministerial conference, held in Bali,
Indonesia, from 3 to 7 December 2013, ministers
adopted the “Bali Package”, a series of decision
aimed at streamlining trade, allowing developing
countries more options for providing food
security, boosting least developed countries’
trade and helping development more generally.
They also adopt a number of more routine
decision and accepted Yemen as a new member
of WTO.

49. WTO: India against dilution od Doha
agenda
New Delhi: Opposing “cherry-picking” of issues by
developed countries at WTO, India suggested that
there should be no dilution of the stalled Doha
development agenda.
Besides, India has said that a permanent solution
on the issue of public stock holding for food
security purposes was critical and should be
addressed on priority basis by the members of
World Trade Organization(WTO).

50. Thank
You