About the WTO

En 2011, la OMC siguió manteniendo contactos regulares con los periodistas en Ginebra y en el resto del mundo, y organizó 39 reuniones de información en Ginebra. Organizó también varias actividades de formación para periodistas y utilizó en mayor medida las redes sociales para transmitir noticias y anunciar actos. Durante 2011, el sitio Web de la OMC se modernizó para ofrecer una idea más clara de la labor de la Organización y facilitar a los visitantes el acceso a la información. La OMC también amplió su programa de publicaciones, en particular las publicaciones conjuntas con otras organizaciones internacionales.

During the first ten years of its existence, the global legitimacy of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has frequently been called into question by ‘civil society’, and particularly by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Everyone recalls, for example, the events during the conference in Seattle. One of the main criticisms is that the WTO’s decisions, and especially those taken within a dispute settlement context, are arrived at ‘behind closed doors’ and take into account only the trade-offs between state interests with no consideration for the rights and interests of private individuals. To make up for these shortcomings, NGOs and various private bodies, including those that represent multinational corporations, have been demanding, among other things, the right to join WTO dispute settlement proceedings, as ‘friends of the court’ and, in that capacity, submit amicus curiae briefs.

If the trading system of the twenty-first century is to succeed in ‘raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effective demand, and expanding the production and trade in goods and services . . . in accordance with the objective of sustainable development’, it must be equipped to achieve these goals.

En 2016, aumentó significativamente la colaboración con la comunidad empresarial. En mayo, la OMC acogió una reunión de dirigentes empresariales, a petición de la Cámara de Comercio Internacional (CCI) y del B-20, la rama empresarial del G-20. El evento se celebró en el marco de la iniciativa “Diálogos sobre el Comercio”, que tiene por objeto dar a las distintas partes interesadas, en particular la comunidad empresarial, la oportunidad de debatir sobre cuestiones comerciales. Se realizó una actividad de seguimiento en el Foro Público de la OMC, a la que asistieron numerosos representantes del sector privado.

The WTO Essay Award for Young Economists was shared in 2014 by Jonathan Dingel from the United States and Claudia Steinwender from Austria. Dingel’s paper dealt with why higher-income countries export higher-quality goods while Steinwender focused on the impact of the better transmission of market and price information on market efficiency and trade.

There are a number of ways of looking at the World Trade Organization. It is an organization for trade opening. It is a forum for governments to negotiate trade agreements. It is a place for them to settle trade disputes. It operates a system of trade rules. It helps developing countries build their trade capacity. Essentially, the WTO is a place where member governments try to sort out the trade problems they face with each other.

In 2012, cooperation with academic institutions focused on three main activities: The mid-term review of the WTO Chairs Programme (WCP), the annual meeting of the stakeholders of the WCP and the sponsoring of projects by universities not covered by the WCP. Fifty-four activities were carried out in support of academic institutions from developing and least-developed countries, including lectures, sponsoring of academic projects, regional and national seminars, attendance at academic conferences, study visits to the WTO and the donation of WTO publications to universities.

Changes to the rules of trade require the agreement of WTO members, who must reach a decision through negotiations.