GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) was established in 1948, initially to reduce the trade barriers among its founding members. The members of GATT created the World Trade organization (WTO) in 1995 just to improve the scope of the trade agreements.
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) - GATS are the first and only set of multilateral rules governing international trade in services. GATS identify four ways of trading services;
- Cross border supply
- Consumption abroad
- Commercial presence
- Presence of natural persons
Agreement on Trade – Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) - This is another creation of Uruguay Round and concerns protecting intellectual property rights and covers; copyrights, trademarks (including service marks), patents, industrial designs etc
The Doha Agenda - In 2001 the Doha trade round started and both developed and developing countries promised to improve market access for agricultural and other products by reducing export tariffs, quotas and subsidies.
UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) - This was established in 1964 to concern about the issues of developing nations regarding international trade that affected their economic development.
Regional Trade Groupings - This has developed during the past two decades shaping the pattern of international trade. There are five forms of regional integration
- Free trade area
- Customs union
- Common market
- Economic union
- Political union
APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum) - This was founded in 1989 to promote the regional economic cooperation and open trade. In 1994 APEC focused their future with three pillars naming them Bogor Goals
1) Trade and investment liberalization
2) Business facilitation
3) Economic and technical cooperation
