Timeline: World Trade Organization A chronology of key events:
The General agreement on Tariffs and Trade was createt in 1947 by the Bretton Woods conference to help stimulate economic recovery after World War II. The GATT would function to reduce and eliminate trade barriers, thus helping economies recover. The GATT was an agreement, not an organization so on January 1, 1995, the World Trade Organization was formed. The following is a timeline retrieved from BBC News. We will take important dates from this and add it to our other timeline to find the most important international trade events.
1947 October - 23 countries sign the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt) in Geneva, Switzerland, to try to give an early boost to trade liberalisation.
1947 November - Delegates from 56 countries meet in Havana, Cuba, to start negotiating the charter of a proposed International Trade Organisation.
1948 March - Charter of International Trade Organisation signed but US Congress rejects it, leaving Gatt as the only international instrument governing world trade.
1949 - Second Gatt round of trade talks held at Annecy, France, where countries exchanged some 5,000 tariff concessions.
1950 - Third Gatt round held in Torquay, England, where countries exchanged some 8,700 tariff concessions, cutting the 1948 tariff levels by 25%.
1955-56 - The next trade round completed in May 1956, resulting in $2.5bn in tariff reductions.
1960-62 - Fifth Gatt round named in honour of US Under Secretary of State Douglas Dillon who proposed the negotiations. It yielded tariff concessions worth $4.9bn of world trade and involved negotiations related to the creation of the European Economic Community.
1964-67 - The Kennedy Round, named in honour of the late US president, achieves tariff cuts worth $40bn of world trade.
1973-79 - The seventh round, launched in Tokyo, Japan, sees Gatt reach agreement to start reducing not only tariffs but trade barriers as well, such as subsidies and import licensing. Tariff reductions worth more than $300bn dollars achieved.
1994 - Trade ministers meet for the final time under GATT auspices at Marrakesh, Morocco to establish the World Trade Organization (WTO) and complete the Uruguay Round.
1995 - The World Trade Organization is created in Geneva.
1999 - At least 30,000 protesters disrupt WTO summit in Seattle, US; New Zealander Mike Moore becomes WTO director-general.
2001 November - WTO members meeting in Doha, Qatar, agree on the Doha Development Agenda, the nineth trade round which is intended to open negotiations on opening markets to agricultural, manufactured goods, and services.
2002 August - WTO rules in favour of the EU in its row with Washington over tax breaks for US exporters. The EU gets the go-ahead to impose $4bn in sanctions against the US, the highest damages ever awarded by the WTO.
2002 September - Former Thai deputy prime minister Supachai Panitchpakdi begins a three-year term as director-general. He is the first WTO head to come from a developing nation.
2003 September - WTO announces deal aimed at giving developing countries access to cheap medicines, hailing it as historic. Aid agencies express disappointment at the deal.
2003 September - World trade talks in Cancun, Mexico collapse after four days of wrangling over farm subsidies, access to markets. Rich countries abandon plans to include so-called "Singapore issues" of investment, competition policy and public procurement in trade talks.
2004 April - WTO rules that US subsidies to its cotton farmers are unfair.
2004 August - Geneva talks achieve framework agreement on opening up global trade. US and EU will reduce agricultural subsidies, while developing nations will cut tariffs on manufactured goods.
2005 March - Upholding a complaint from Brazil, WTO rules that US subsidies to its cotton farmers are illegal.
2005 May - WTO agrees to start membership talks with Iran.
2005 September - Frenchman Pascal Lamy takes over as WTO director-general. He was
formerly the EU's trade commissioner.
2005 October - US offers to make big cuts in agricultural subsidies if other countries, notably EU do the same. EU responds, but France opposes more concessions.
2005 November - WTO approves membership for Saudi Arabia.
2005 December - World trade talks in Hong Kong begin amid widespread belief that they will not succeed in making a breakthrough.
2007 January - Vietnam becomes the 150th WTO member state.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/2430089.stm
1947 November - Delegates from 56 countries meet in Havana, Cuba, to start negotiating the charter of a proposed International Trade Organisation.
1948 March - Charter of International Trade Organisation signed but US Congress rejects it, leaving Gatt as the only international instrument governing world trade.
1949 - Second Gatt round of trade talks held at Annecy, France, where countries exchanged some 5,000 tariff concessions.
1950 - Third Gatt round held in Torquay, England, where countries exchanged some 8,700 tariff concessions, cutting the 1948 tariff levels by 25%.
1955-56 - The next trade round completed in May 1956, resulting in $2.5bn in tariff reductions.
1960-62 - Fifth Gatt round named in honour of US Under Secretary of State Douglas Dillon who proposed the negotiations. It yielded tariff concessions worth $4.9bn of world trade and involved negotiations related to the creation of the European Economic Community.
1964-67 - The Kennedy Round, named in honour of the late US president, achieves tariff cuts worth $40bn of world trade.
1973-79 - The seventh round, launched in Tokyo, Japan, sees Gatt reach agreement to start reducing not only tariffs but trade barriers as well, such as subsidies and import licensing. Tariff reductions worth more than $300bn dollars achieved.
1994 - Trade ministers meet for the final time under GATT auspices at Marrakesh, Morocco to establish the World Trade Organization (WTO) and complete the Uruguay Round.
1995 - The World Trade Organization is created in Geneva.
1999 - At least 30,000 protesters disrupt WTO summit in Seattle, US; New Zealander Mike Moore becomes WTO director-general.
2001 November - WTO members meeting in Doha, Qatar, agree on the Doha Development Agenda, the nineth trade round which is intended to open negotiations on opening markets to agricultural, manufactured goods, and services.
2002 August - WTO rules in favour of the EU in its row with Washington over tax breaks for US exporters. The EU gets the go-ahead to impose $4bn in sanctions against the US, the highest damages ever awarded by the WTO.
2002 September - Former Thai deputy prime minister Supachai Panitchpakdi begins a three-year term as director-general. He is the first WTO head to come from a developing nation.
2003 September - WTO announces deal aimed at giving developing countries access to cheap medicines, hailing it as historic. Aid agencies express disappointment at the deal.
2003 September - World trade talks in Cancun, Mexico collapse after four days of wrangling over farm subsidies, access to markets. Rich countries abandon plans to include so-called "Singapore issues" of investment, competition policy and public procurement in trade talks.
2004 April - WTO rules that US subsidies to its cotton farmers are unfair.
2004 August - Geneva talks achieve framework agreement on opening up global trade. US and EU will reduce agricultural subsidies, while developing nations will cut tariffs on manufactured goods.
2005 March - Upholding a complaint from Brazil, WTO rules that US subsidies to its cotton farmers are illegal.
2005 May - WTO agrees to start membership talks with Iran.
2005 September - Frenchman Pascal Lamy takes over as WTO director-general. He was
formerly the EU's trade commissioner.
2005 October - US offers to make big cuts in agricultural subsidies if other countries, notably EU do the same. EU responds, but France opposes more concessions.
2005 November - WTO approves membership for Saudi Arabia.
2005 December - World trade talks in Hong Kong begin amid widespread belief that they will not succeed in making a breakthrough.
2007 January - Vietnam becomes the 150th WTO member state.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/2430089.stm
1 comment:
nice. really thorough time line. i got a pretty good understanding of the progress made in the world after reading this
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