The World Trade Organisation: institution-building in the multilateral trade system

Abstract

On 1 January 1995, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was created as part of the results of the Uruguay Round trade negotiation concluded on 15 December 1993. This was a signal achievement in historic terms. The WTO is the first international organisation of international character to be created following the end of the Cold War, and it completed the third pillar of international economic organisation which had begun with the creation of the IMF and the World Bank in 1994. Unlike the GATT, the WO is invested with a legal personality and organisational presence arguably equivalent to the latter organisations. The WTO is an unusual international organisation. The purpose of this paper is to describe the unique nature of the WTO, and to explain the process and reasons that led to its creation. The paper will examine why the WTO has been called a 'contract' organisation, and what contribution this type of organisation can make to international cooperation in the world economy.