(VOVWORLD) - The World Trade Organization marks its 30th anniversary on January 1st, 2025, affirming its central role in global trade amid increasing demands for reform.
The Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization was signed on 15 April 1994 by 123 countries, leading to the birth of the WTO on January 1st, 1995. Three decades after its establishment, the WTO now has 166 member countries and territories, 23 observer countries and territories, and dozens of international organizations granted observer status.
Since its inception, the WTO has played an important role in promoting global trade. By 2023, global trade value had reached 30.4 trillion USD annually, a five-fold increase compared to 1995 (6.2 trillion USD).
The global trade growth rate has always been 20-30% higher than the global GDP growth rate, reflecting the increasingly close linkages between economies, even during the 2008-2009 financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Trade between developing economies have benefited from the WTO, surging from less than a tenth of global trade in 1995 to nearly 25% recently.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said: "A strong and effective WTO is a vital tool for building resilience in an increasingly shock-prone global economy. Trade can help WTO members adjust to, and overcome, the shocks of these events."
Three decades after its establishment, the WTO is facing major challenges, notably reforming its governance and dispute settlement mechanisms and building more detailed and progressive regulations on global trade issues, to be submitted to the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) for approval in March 2026 in Cameroon.