Hi noblereseracher,
Thank you for another very interesting question.
What is the World Trade Organization?
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/fact1_e.htm
"Simply put: the World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with the rules
of trade between nations at a global or near-global level. But there
is more to it than that."
(see page for more information)
=========
What is the WTO?
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/whatis_e.htm
"The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international
organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its
heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the
world?s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is
to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers
conduct their business.
FACT FILE
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Established: 1 January 1995
Created by: Uruguay Round negotiations (1986-94)
Membership: 148 countries (on 13 October 2004)
Budget: 162 million Swiss francs for 2004
Secretariat staff: 600
Head: Supachai Panitchpakdi (director-general)
Functions:
? 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
=========
Understanding the WTO
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/tif_e.htm
*****
ASEAN FREE TRADE AREA - AFTA is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
http://www.aseansec.org/64.htm
"The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN was established
on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by the five original Member Countries,
namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995,
Laos and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999.
The ASEAN region has a population of about 500 million, a total area
of 4.5 million square kilometers, a combined gross domestic product of
US$737 billion, and a total trade of US$ 720 billion."
(see rest of article)
=========
The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA)
http://www.aseansec.org/12021.htm
"The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) has now been virtually established.
ASEAN Member Countries have made significant progress in the lowering
of intra-regional tariffs through the Common Effective Preferential
Tariff (CEPT) Scheme for AFTA. More than 99 percent of the products in
the CEPT Inclusion List (IL) of ASEAN-6, comprising Brunei Darussalam,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, have
been brought down to the 0-5 percent tariff range."
(see rest of article with graphs)
=========
The ASEAN Free Trade Area and other Areas of ASEAN Economic Cooperation
http://www.us-asean.org/afta.asp
=========
Best regards,
tlspiegel |
