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| image = World Trade Organization (logo and wordmark).svg | caption = Official logo of WTO | map = WTO members and observers.svg | mcaption = ---- | type = International trade organization | purpose = Regulate international trade | headquarters = Centre William Rappard, Geneva, Switzerland | coords = | region_served = Worldwide | membership = 162 member states〔(Members and Observers ) at WTO official website〕 | language = English, French, Spanish〔(Languages, Documentation and Information Management Division ) at WTO official site〕 | leader_title = Director-General | leader_name = Roberto Azevêdo | formation = | budget = 196 million Swiss francs (approx. 209 million US$) in 2011. | num_staff = 640〔(Understanding the WTO: What We Stand For_ Fact File )〕 | website = }} The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization which regulates international trade. The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948.〔(World Trade Organization - UNDERSTANDING THE WTO: BASICS )〕 The WTO deals with regulation of trade between participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements, which are signed by representatives of member governments〔''(Understanding the WTO )'' Handbook at WTO official website. (Note that the document's printed folio numbers do not match the pdf page numbers.)〕 and ratified by their parliaments. Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (1986–1994). The WTO is attempting to complete negotiations on the Doha Development Round, which was launched in 2001 with an explicit focus on developing countries. , the future of the Doha Round remained uncertain: the work programme lists 21 subjects in which the original deadline of 1 January 2005 was missed, and the round is still incomplete.〔(Understanding the WTO: The Doha Agenda )〕 The conflict between free trade on industrial goods and services but retention of protectionism on farm subsidies to domestic agricultural sector (requested by developed countries) and the substantiation of fair trade on agricultural products (requested by developing countries) remain the major obstacles. This impasse has made it impossible to launch new WTO negotiations beyond the Doha Development Round. As a result, there have been an increasing number of bilateral free trade agreements between governments.〔(The Challenges to the World Trade Organization: It’s All About Legitimacy ) THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION, Policy Paper 2011-04〕 As of July 2012, there were various negotiation groups in the WTO system for the current agricultural trade negotiation which is in the condition of stalemate.〔(GROUPS IN THE WTO ) Updated 1 July 2013〕 The WTO's current Director-General is Roberto Azevêdo, who leads a staff of over 600 people in Geneva, Switzerland.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Overview of the WTO Secretariat )〕 A trade facilitation agreement known as the Bali Package was reached by all members on 7 December 2013, the first comprehensive agreement in the organization's history.〔(Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference | WTO - MC9 )〕〔(BBC News - WTO agrees global trade deal worth $1tn )〕 ==History== The WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), was established after World War II in the wake of other new multilateral institutions dedicated to international economic cooperation – notably the Bretton Woods institutions known as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. A comparable international institution for trade, named the International Trade Organization was successfully negotiated. The ITO was to be a United Nations specialized agency and would address not only trade barriers but other issues indirectly related to trade, including employment, investment, restrictive business practices, and commodity agreements. But the ITO treaty was not approved by the U.S. and a few other signatories and never went into effect.〔P. van den Bossche, ''The Law and Policy of the World Trade Organization'', 80〕〔Palmeter-Mavroidis, ''Dispute Settlement'', 2〕 In the absence of an international organization for trade, the GATT would over the years "transform itself" into a ''de facto'' international organization.〔It was contemplated that the GATT would be applied for several years until the ITO came into force. However, since the ITO was never brought into being, the GATT gradually became the focus for international governmental cooperation on trade matters with economist Nicholas Halford overseeing the implementation of GATT in members policies. (P. van den Bossche, ''The Law and Policy of the World Trade Organization'', 81; J.H. Jackson, ''Managing the Trading System'', 134).〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「World Trade Organization」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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