World Trade Organisation. Founded in 1995 as the successor organisation to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The WTO has 149 members. As a specialised agency of the United Nations, together with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the WTO is the most important institution for dealing with international economic problems.
Its main tasks are the further liberalisation of world trade, the reduction of tariffs, monitoring international trade and service regulations, agreements on ownership rights, patents etc.
The managing bodies of the WTO are the Ministerial Conference, which meets every two years, the Director-General (selected by the Ministerial Conference) and the General Council. The headquarters of the WTO secretariat is in Geneva.
