AMITY GLOBAL

BUSINESS SCHOOL Noida

Module IV
International Economic Institutions and
Agreements

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BUSINESS SCHOOL Noida

• Contents
• WTO and GATT
• GATS, TRIPs and TRIMs
• Uruguay Rounds of Negotiations
• World Bank

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• WTO
• The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global
international organization dealing with the rules of trade
between nations.
• The goal is to help producers of goods and services,
exporters, and importers conduct their business.
• Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Established: 1 January 1995
Created by: Uruguay Round negotiations (1986-94)
Membership: 164 members representing 98 per cent of
world trade
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• History of WTO
• From 1948 to 1994, the GATT provided the
rules for much of world trade and presided
over periods that saw some of the highest
growth rates in international commerce.
• The WTO replaced GATT as an international
organization, but the General Agreement still
exists as the WTO’s umbrella treaty for trade
in goods, updated as a result of the Uruguay
Round negotiations.
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• The WTO’s creation on 1 January 1995

marked the biggest reform of international
trade since the end of the Second World
War.
• Whereas the GATT mainly dealt with trade in
goods, the WTO and its agreements also
cover trade in services and intellectual
property. The birth of the WTO also created
new procedures for the settlement of
disputes.
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Uruguay Round
• The Uruguay Round was the 8th round of multilateral trade
negotiations(MTN) conducted within the framework of the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), spanning from 1986 to
1994 and embracing 123 countries as "contracting parties“
 The Round led to the creation of the World Trade Organization,
with GATT remaining as an integral part of the WTO agreements.
 The broad mandate of the Round had been to extend GATT trade
rules to areas previously exempted as too difficult to liberalize
(agriculture, textiles), and to increasingly important new areas
previously not included (trade in services, intellectual
property, investment policy trade distortions)

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Uruguay Round
The main objectives of the Uruguay Round were:
• to reduce agricultural subsidies
• to put restrictions on foreign investment, and
• to begin the process of opening trade in
services like banking and insurance.
• They also wanted to draft a code to deal
with copyright violation and other forms
of intellectual property rights.

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• Functions of WTO:
• Administering WTO trade agreements
• Forum for trade negotiations
• Handling trade disputes
• Monitoring national trade policies
• Technical assistance and training for
developing countries
• Cooperation with other international
organizations
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• GATS, TRIPs, TRIMs

• The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is a treaty of the World
Trade Organization (WTO) that entered into force in January 1995 as a result
of the Uruguay Round negotiations.
• The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights (TRIPS) is an international agreement administered by the World
Trade Organization (WTO) that sets down minimum standards for many
forms of intellectual property (IP) regulation as applied to nationals of other
WTO Members. It was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994.
• The Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMS) recognizes
that certain investment measures can restrict and distort trade. The
objectives of the Agreement, as defined in its preamble, include “the
expansion and progressive liberalization of world trade and to facilitate
investment across international frontiers so as to increase the economic
growth of all trading partners, particularly developing country members, while
ensuring free competition”.
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World Bank
• The World Bank was created at the
1944 Bretton Woods Conference, along with
the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
• The president of the World Bank is,
traditionally, an American. The World Bank
and the IMF are both based in Washington,
D.C., and work closely with each other.
• The President of the Bank is the president of
the entire World Bank Group.
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World Bank Group

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Objectives/Functions of World Bank

• Granting reconstruction loans to war devastated country.
• Granting developmental loans to developing countries.
• Providing loans to government for agriculture, irrigation,
power, transport, water supply, education, health etc.
• Providing loans to private concerns for specified projects.
• Providing foreign investment by guaranteeing loans
provided by other organizations.
• Providing technical, economic and monetary advice to
member countries for specific project.
• Encouraging industrial development of underdeveloped
countries by promoting economic reforms.
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International Monetary Fund

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF),
created in 1945, is an organization of 189
countries, working to foster global monetary
cooperation, secure financial stability,
facilitate international trade, promote high
employment and sustainable economic
growth, and reduce poverty around the
world.

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Functions of IMF
• Surveillance over Members’ Economic Policies
• Financing Temporary Balance of Payments Needs
• Combating Poverty in Low-Income Countries
• Mobilizing External Financing
• Strengthening the International Monetary System
• Increasing the Global Supply of International Reserves
• Building Capacity through Technical Assistance and Training
• Dissemination of Information and Research

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SDR (Special Drawing Rights)

• Unit of account for IMF.
• (SDR consists of different proportion of 5
currencies as per weighted average)

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