♤ The WTO's top decision-making body is the Ministerial Conference (MC).

♤ The latest ministerial conference, MC-11, was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 10 to 13 December 2017.The Conference ended with a number of ministerial decisions, including on fisheries subsidies and e-commerce duties, and a commitment to continue negotiations in all areas.

♤ Below this is the General Council (normally ambassadors and heads of delegation in Geneva, but sometimes officials sent from members’ capitals) which meets several times a year in the Geneva headquarters. The General Council also meets as the Trade Policy Review Body and the Dispute Settlement Body.

1.17.1. The WTO Mandate

♤ There are a number of ways of looking at the WTO:

o It’s an organisation for liberalizing trade.

o It’s a forum for governments to negotiate trade agreements.

o It’s a place for them to settle trade disputes.

o It operates a system of trade rules.

♤ Above all, it’s a negotiating forum. Essentially, the WTO is a place where member governments go, to try to sort out the trade problems they face with each other. The first step is to talk.

♤ The bulk of the WTO's current work comes from the 1986-94 negotiations called the Uruguay Round and earlier negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

♤ The WTO is currently hosting negotiations, under the “Doha Development Agenda”