WTO Trade Agreements
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international body whose aim is to promote and regulate trade between nations. WTO agreements - or trade rules - include goods, services and intellectual property. They also cover dispute-settlement mechanisms and schedules on future commitments by WTO members.
Other People Are Reading
-
Goods
-
These agreements specify which goods will be free of import duties or how much members are allowed to charge for certain goods. For certain goods, there are different rates for developed and developing countries.
Agriculture
-
Agreements on goods include agricultural products, which is a particularly sensitive area. These agreements aim to help nations preserve their rural economies while at the same time facilitating international trade of agricultural products.
-
Services
-
This is another difficult area to negotiate, since developing countries often are pressured to open their markets to competition from developed countries. It includes services such as banking and finance, telecommunications and air-transport services.
Intellectual Property
-
Agreements on intellectual property protect the rights of artists, innovators or software writers. The aim is to prevent unauthorized use of copyrighted or patented material, industrial designs and trademarks.
Other WTO Agreements
-
Other agreements include non-tariff barriers to trade such as bureaucratic obstacles, standard and safety procedures, as well as special areas which apply to some, but not all, WTO members.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit bazaar trade of various bean image by Maria Brzostowska from Fotolia.com
