World Trade Organization
Mauritius
is a Member of the WTO since its foundation in
1995. The WTO is the successor to the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Brief
Overview
The WTO’s main objective is to help trade flow smoothly, freely, fairly and predictably. It does this by:
- Administering trade agreements
- Acting as a forum for trade negotiations
- Settling trade disputes
- Reviewing national trade policies
- Assisting developing countries in trade policy issues, through technical assistance and training programs
- Cooperating with other international organizations
Main WTO Principles
- Most-favored-nations (MFN) treatment – Lays down the principle of non-discrimination. Requires that tariffs and other negotiations should be applied to imported or exported goods without discrimination among countries.
- National Treatment Rule – Prohibits countries from discriminating between imported products and domestically produced like goods, both in the matter of the levy of internal taxes and in the application of internal regulations.
WTO Agreements
As emerged from the Uruguay Round, the WTO consists of the following main substantive agreements:
- Multilateral Agreements on Trade in Goods
including the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT 1994) and its associate Agreements;
- General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS);
- Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS)
Doha Round
The
Doha Development Round or Doha Development Agenda
(DDA) is the current trade-negotiation round of
the WTO which commenced in November 2001. Its
objective is to lower trade barriers around the
world, which allows countries to increase trade
globally.
The
negotiations are organized into different Trade
Negotiations Committees on the following main
issues:
- Agriculture
- Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA)
- Services
- Intellectual Property Rights
- Non-Tariff Barriers
- Trade Facilitation
- Anti-Dumping
- Rules Negotiations
- Environment
- Dispute Settlement
- Development
The status on the negotiations of the different committees can be obtained from the WTO website on Trade Negotiations Committee
Useful Websites
World Trade Organisation
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