Yearbook of the United Nations, 2001. Part 6, Intergovernmental organizations related to the United Nations. Chapter 17, World Trade Organization (WTO)

Abstract

In 2001, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the legal and institutional foundation of the multilateral trading system, continued to oversee the rules of international trade, settle trade disputes and organize trade negotiations. The Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference, WTO's highest authority, which comprised all of its members,was held in Doha, Qatar, from9 to 14 November. It adopted the Doha Development Agenda, which set out WTO's work programme for the coming years. Specifically, it incorporated expanded negotiations and other activities and decisions designed to address the challenges facing the trading system and the needs and interests of WTO's diverse membership. The Conference also adopted a declaration on the WTO Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and public health, which clarified specific segments of the TRIPS Agreement, thereby allaying concerns about the possible implications of the Agreement for access to drugs. WTO's General Council, the body entrusted with overseeing the organization's work in the interval between Conferences, continued to monitor the implementation and operation of the multilateral trading system embodied in the WTO Agreement [YUN 1995, p. 1515]. It oversaw progress in electronic commerce and examined, among other things, the internal transparency and effective participation of member States. During the year, WTO membership increased to 143 with the admission of China, Lithuania and the Republic of Moldova.