3. What is the role of different institutes in the development of international trading system?

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.

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

• World Bank – financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world in order to eliminate poverty

• International Monetary Fund (IMF) - works to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.

• International Trade Organization (ITO). – was not created.

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 

The role of international organizations

• Different countries have different objectives — e.g., Canada/US/Japan/EU/developing countries/Caribbean countries/transitional economies — all have various objectives, approaches, and preferences that may require negotiations to resolve. The result is compromise between ideals and reality and the imperfection that is part of reality.

• International and national institutions provide permanence and stability in addressing differences and in pursuing competing priorities.

• Positions and approaches adopted by most governments reflect not only their interests, objectives, and preferences, but also the political/institutional setting within which governments operate

• When countries enter into trade agreements they agree to such broadly-based objectives as increased economic welfare, and promotion of international cooperation. However, countries also enter trade agreements for a variety of specific, subjective reasons that reflect a country's particular political and economic profile.

The multilateral trade regime is complemented by dozens of regional and bilateral agreements and arrangements. Two regional agreements and arrangements are particularly important: the European 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.

Other institutes:

• national governments and their related agencies,  - impose direct measures affecting international trade

• private sector organizations (national and international), - lobbying

• industry associations (influence the government by lobbying, might provoke antidumping investigation)

• non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (human rights organizations, antiglobalists, greenpeace, WWF)

• labour unions,  (influence labor policy issues)

• universities and think tanks (research centers)

• media organizations (might influence the societal opinion on this or that action)

• technical regulators and inspectors (impose standards and other technical restrictions)

• consumers,  and many others