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World Trade Organization

Foreign direct investmentInfoboxes without native name language parameterInternational organisations based in SwitzerlandInternational trade lawInternational trade organizations
Organisations based in GenevaOrganizations established in 1995Trade blocsTreaties entered into force in 1995United Nations General Assembly observersWorld Trade OrganizationWorld government
WTO members and observers
WTO members and observers

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that govern international trade. It officially commenced operations on 1 January 1995, pursuant to the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement, thus replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that had been established in 1948. The WTO is the world's largest international economic organization, with 164 member states representing over 98% of global trade and global GDP.The WTO facilitates trade in goods, services and intellectual property among participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements, which usually aim to reduce or eliminate tariffs, quotas, and other restrictions; these agreements are signed by representatives of member governments: fol.9–10  and ratified by their legislatures. The WTO also administers independent dispute resolution for enforcing participants' adherence to trade agreements and resolving trade-related disputes. The organization prohibits discrimination between trading partners, but provides exceptions for environmental protection, national security, and other important goals.The WTO is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Its top decision-making body is the Ministerial Conference, which is composed of all member states and usually convenes biennially; consensus is emphasized in all decisions. Day-to-day functions are handled by the General Council, made up of representatives from all members. A Secretariat of over 600 personnel, led by the Director-General and four deputies, provides administrative, professional, and technical services. The WTO's annual budget is roughly 220 million USD, which is contributed by members based on their proportion of international trade.Studies show the WTO has boosted trade and reduced trade barriers. It has also influenced trade agreement generally; a 2017 analysis found that the vast majority of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) up to that point explicitly reference the WTO, with substantial portions of text copied from WTO agreements. Goal 10 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals also referenced WTO agreements as instruments of reducing inequality. However, critics contend that the benefits of WTO-facilitated free trade are not shared equally.

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World Trade Organization
Rue de Lausanne, Geneva Pâquis

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N 46.224166666667 ° E 6.1494444444444 °
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Centre William Rappard

Rue de Lausanne 154
1202 Geneva, Pâquis
Geneva, Switzerland
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WTO members and observers
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Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, or the Geneva Graduate Institute (French: Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement), abbreviated IHEID, is a government-accredited postgraduate institution of higher education located in Geneva, Switzerland. The current Geneva Graduate Institute was formed by a merger between the Graduate Institute of International Studies (French: Institut des hautes études internationales, abbreviated IHEI or HEI) and the Graduate Institute of Development Studies (French: Institut universitaire d’études du développement, abbreviated IUED) in 2008. The institution counts one UN secretary-general (Kofi Annan), seven Nobel Prize recipients, one Pulitzer Prize winner, and numerous ambassadors, foreign ministers, and heads of state among its alumni and faculty. Founded by two senior League of Nations officials, the Graduate Institute maintains strong links with that international organisation's successor, the United Nations, and many alumni have gone on to work at UN agencies. Admission to the Graduate Institute's study programmes is highly competitive, with a selection rate of only 14% of applicants. Founded in 1927, the Graduate Institute of International Studies (IHEI or HEI) was continental Europe's oldest school of international relations and was the world's first graduate institute dedicated solely to the study of international affairs. It offered one of the first doctoral programmes in international relations in the world. In 2008, the Graduate Institute absorbed the Graduate Institute of Development Studies, a smaller postgraduate institution also based in Geneva founded in 1961. The merger resulted in the current Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.Today the school enrolls close to a thousand postgraduate students from over 100 countries. Foreign students make up nearly 90% of the student body and the school is officially a bilingual English-French institution, although the majority of classes are in English. With Maison de la Paix acting as its primary seat of learning, the institute's campuses are located blocks from the United Nations Office at Geneva, International Labour Organization, World Trade Organization, World Health Organization, International Committee of the Red Cross, World Intellectual Property Organization and many other international organisations.It runs joint degree programmes with universities such as Smith College and Yale University, and is Harvard Kennedy School's only partner institution to co-deliver double degrees. The school is a member of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), a group of schools that specialize in public policy, public administration, and international affairs.