World Trade Centre

World Trade Centre WTC headquarters located at New York, USA. It featured the landmark Twin Towers which was established on 4th April . Later it was destroyed on 11th September by the craft attack. It brings together businesses involved in international trade from around the globe. was held at Singapore in . The recent conference was held at Argentina in . It was planned to organize 12th ministerial conference at Kazakhstan in . - - International Economic Organisations . . . Objectives of WTO The basic aim is to expand international trade and bring about economic prosperity by liberalizing trade restrictions. i) To ensure reduction of tariff and other barriers. ii) To eliminate discrimination in trade. iii) To facilitate higher standard of living. iv) To facilitate optimal use of world’s resources. v) To enable the LDCs to secure fair share in the growth of international trade. vi) To ensure linkages between trade policies, environmental policies and sustainable development. WTO Agreements Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Intellectual Property Rights include copy right, trade marks, patents, geographical indications, trade secrets, industrial designs, etc. TRIPS Agreement provides for granting product patents instead of process patents. The period of protection will be years for patents, years for copy rights, years for trade marks and years for layout designs. As a result of TRIPS, the dependence of LDCs on advanced countries for seeds, drugs, fertilizers and pesticides has increased. Farmers are depending on the industrial firm for their seeds. Agreement on Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs) TRIMs are related to conditions or restrictions in respect of foreign investment in the country. It calls for introducing equal treatment for foreign companies on par with national companies. TRIMs were widely employed by developing countries. Restrictions on foreign investment on following grounds are to be removed.  No restriction on area of investment.  No binding on use of local material.  No mandatory exports.  No restriction on repatriation of royalty, dividend and interest.  No trade balancing requirement, i.e. imports not exceeding exports. General Agreement on Trade