The World Trade Organization came into being in 1995. It is
the successor (后继) to the General Agreement (协议) on Tariffs (关税) and Trade
(GATT) established in the wake of (作为……的后果) the Second World War.
The multilateral (多边的) trading system was developed through a series of
trade negotiations or rounds. The first rounds dealt mainly with tariff
reductions but later negotiations (谈判) included other areas such as anti-dumping
(反倾销) and non-tariff measures. The latest round, the 1986-1994 Uruguay Round,
led to the WTO’s creation. The negotiations did not end there.
Some continued after the end of the Uruguay Round. In February 1997 agreement
was reached on telecommunications (电信) services, with 69 governments agreeing to
wide-ranging liberation measures that went beyond those agreed in Uruguay
Round. In the same year 40 governments concluded (缔结)
negotiations for tariff-free trade in information technology products, and 70
members concluded a financial services deal covering more than 95% of trade in
banking, insurance, securities and financial information. At the
May 1998 ministerial meeting in Geneva, WTO members agreed to study trade issues
arising from global electronic commerce. The next ministerial
conference is due to be held in Seattle of the United States in late 1999. In
2000, new talks are due to start on agriculture and services, and possibly a
range of other issues. WTO was (46) in 1995, the original
organization of which was (47) . A series of trade
negotiations resulted in (48) . The creation of WTO was made
in (49) . Negotiations for tariff-free trade were reached
in (50) products in 1997.