2. Describe main institutes of international trade system. How do these institutes correspond with each other?

Institutions provide permanence and stability in a changing world, as well as a forum for states to discuss their concerns. Some of the ideas and practices that support modern organizations for international cooperation originated with the League of Nations (which would later emerge as the United Nations). There are now some 300 intergovernmental organizations devoted to economic issues alone.

Bretton Woods developed during the closing days of World War II to promote international economic prosperity and stability through multilateral cooperation.

At the core are the Bretton Woods agreements laid the groundwork for the establishment of:

• International World Bank

• Monetary Fund (IMF),

• International Trade Organization (ITO).

The United Nations has also created a number of specialized and technically oriented institutions to deal with a range of economic issues:

• Labour - International Labour Organization - ILO

• Food - Food and Agriculture Organization -FAO

• Aviation - International Civil Aviation Organization - ICAO

• Customs - World Customs Organization - WCO

• Intellectual Property - World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO 

Other multilateral institutions in the trade field, including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Customs Cooperation Council (CCC), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), commodity councils (such as the International Wheat Council), and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Each of the international organizations operates on the basis of rules and procedures established by its founding agreement and implemented by member governments and, usually, a Secretariat.

Relations among states and international organizations are governed by another set of ‘institutions’, norms, or conventions loosely termed international law.

The multilateral trade regime is complemented by dozens of regional and bilateral agreements and arrangements. Two regional agreements and arrangements are particularly important: theEuropean Union (EU) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in providing a basis for assessing alternative approaches to integration and liberalization.

Both of these agreements illustrate various characteristics of regionalism. A wide range of other regional arrangements are currently extant. The WTO catalogs over 200 such arrangements

Regionalism provides both positive and negative dimension in the further evolution of the global trade regime. Trade policy practitioners need to be aware of the dense network of specialized bilateral agreements addressing, e.g., investment, export credits, and double taxation.

Throw regional institutes we can distinguish:

• European Communities

• Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) — Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. (The three remaining members, Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam, are applying to join the WTO.)

• MERCOSUR, the Southern Common Market (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, with Bolivia and Chile as associate members), has a similar set-up.

• North American Free Trade Agreement: NAFTA (Canada, US and Mexico).

• African Group,

• the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP) and the Latin American Economic System (SELA).

Other institutes:

• national governments and their related agencies, 

• private sector organizations (national and international),

• industry associations,

• non-governmental organizations (NGOs), 

• labour unions, 

• universities and think tanks, 

• media organizations, 

• technical regulators and inspectors, 

• consumers,  and many others

• Environmental organisations

• Service providers

• Church, etc