The World Trade Organisation (WTO)
The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established in January 1995, following eight years of the Uruguay Round negotiations (1986 - 1994). The Final Act of the Uruguay Round sets out the establishment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), as agreed by its members in Marrakesh, 15 April 1994.
The WTO web site
explains that prior to the founding of the WTO, the GATT played a "de facto role - [that] - was always ad hoc, without a proper legal foundation. International law did not recognize GATT as an organization". The WTO describes itself as "the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, the legal ground-rules for international commerce and for trade policy".
The WTO has 132 members, as of 22 October 1997, as compared with 185 member states in the United Nations.
The WTO web site states:
The WTO is obligated to review many of its trade agreements in four to five years from the time of implementation, and if adverse effects can be shown, amendments can be made. This is an opportunity for women’s organisations and other civic organisations to make their own assessments, as they have done with the adverse effects of structural adjustment and the external debt.
The Director General of the WTO, Renato Ruggiero calls its the Dispute Settlement Mechanism the "the WTO’s most individual contribution to the stability of the global economy".
The private sector, non-governmental organizations and other lobbying groups do not participate in WTO activities except in special events such as seminars and symposiums. They can only exert their influence on WTO decisions through their governments.