Trade liberalisation is a global process affecting every country in the world.
It involves many multilateral processes of trade negotiations,
many of which are structured as international meetings in global and regional contexts.
This calendar collates the upcoming meetings of two important trade organisations:
Both the WTO and APEC have trade liberalisation as their main goal.
The WTO describes itself as
"the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations".
It has a Dispute Settlement Mechanism to enforce its rules of trade. The rules of the WTO are thus legally binding on its member states.
In contrast, APEC is a forum, rather than a legally binding entity. APEC agreements are supposedly arrived at by consensus among its members economies.
In addition, there is the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). However, UNCTAD is a series of conferences, rather than an organisation.
The most recent conference was UNCTAD X, held in Bangkok from 12 to 19 February 2000.
UNCTAD's declared goal is:
to maximize the trade, investment and development opportunities of developing countries, and to help them face challenges arising from globalization and integrate into the world economy, on an equitable basis.
So the meetings of UNCTAD, unlike those of the WTO and APEC, are not to arrive at trade liberalisation targets but to consider the challenges and opportunities of trade liberalisation to developing countries.