The World Trade Organization (WTO), the multilateral instrument that regulates international trade, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year 2020.
A review of some of the most important dates in the history of the WTO:
- April 15th 1994.- The founding act of the WTO, following the conclusion of the Uruguay Round negotiations for the liberalization of world trade (Marrakesh Agreements), is signed in the Moroccan city of Marrakech.
- January 1, 1995.- The WTO is established in Geneva (Switzerland) with the ratification of 76 of the 124 countries that approved it. Renato Ruggiero is the Director General of the WTO, 1995 to 1999.
- 1996.- The first WTO Conference is held in the city-state of Singapore.
- 1997.- WTO approves liberalization of telecommunications and financial services.
- 2001.- The WTO promotes the Doha Round, a forum to improve trade in developing countries. It holds its first conference in the city of the same name in Qatar.
- 2001.- China officially joins the WTO, after 15 years of meetings.
- 2008.- Negotiations to relaunch the Doha Round fail because countries cannot reconcile their positions on the issue of agriculture.
- 2012.- Russia officially joins the WTO after 18 years of negotiations. The decision was approved at the Eighth Ministerial Conference held in Geneva from 15 to 17 December 2011.
- 2012.- The banana war between Latin American producers and the European Union (EU), one of the longest disputes in the trade system, ends with an agreement at the WTO.
- 2013.- Brazilian diplomat Roberto Azevedo replaces Frenchman Pascal Lamy as head of the WTO.
- 2017.- The Conference held in Buenos Aires (Argentina), the most recent of the 11 convened, concludes without agreements.
- 2020.- The WTO is celebrating its 25th anniversary and will hold its next Ministerial Conference in June in Kazakhstan with the challenge of perfecting the regulatory framework to put aside protectionism, improve trade and boost the development of all regions.
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