18.1f General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

This is an organization aimed at promoting trade among its members. It was instituted in 1948 and has a membership of about a hundred countries. It aims at encouraging free trade between the member nations through the removal of barriers on international trade among the GATT nations. It is also a platform where the member nations can come together and discuss contentions regarding trade. It may be considered as the main international agreement on world trade.

The member nations (known as contracting parties) hold business meetings at least once a year. Decisions require unanimity in the session.

Its headquarters are at Geneva. It consists of a council of representatives that are elected by GATT and they are in charge of attending to any urgent work that may crop up between the sessions. It also consists of a Secretariat, which has the experts on international trade. An administrative staff is also part of the organization.

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Index

18.0 Introduction
18.1 Regional Organizations
   a. E.E.C
   b. O.P.E.C
   c. S.W.A.P.O
   d. S.A.A.R.C
   e. A.S.E.A.N,
   f. G.A.T.T.
   g. N.A.F.T.A
18.2 International Organizations
   a. N.A.M
   b. The Commonwealth
   c. U.N.O.
18.3 Dates & Events

Chapter 19