1994 April 15 The Ministerial Conference of the Uruguay Round of GATT held in Marrakech, Morocco decided to establish a more global World Trade Organization (WTO) to replace the GATT (GATT) established in 1947.
The WTO is a permanent international organization independent of the United Nations. 1 995 65438+1October1officially started operation, and was responsible for managing the world economy and trade order. Its headquarters is located in Lemmon Lake, Geneva, Switzerland. 1996 65438+ 10 1, which officially replaced the provisional institutions of GATT. WTO is an international organization with legal person status and has higher authority in mediating disputes among its members. Its predecessor was the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade concluded in 1947. Compared with GATT, WTO covers trade in goods, services and intellectual property rights, while GATT only applies to trade in goods. The WTO, together with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, is called the "three pillars" of the current world economic system. At present, the trade volume of the WTO has accounted for more than 95% of world trade. The current Director-General is pascal lamy (France), a former EU Trade Commissioner, who took office in September 2005.
On July1995 1 1, the General Council of WTO decided to accept China as an observer of the organization and joined it on May 6, 2006.
WTO members are divided into four categories: developed members, developing members, members with economies in transition and least developed members. 165438+200617 October, the World Trade Organization completed its work on admitting Vietnam into the organization. 165438+1On October 28th, the Vietnamese National Assembly ratified the Protocol on Vietnam's Accession to the World Trade Organization. Thirty days after ratifying this Protocol, Vietnam will formally become the150th member of the WTO.
World Trade Organization Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland.
The idea of establishing WTO was put forward at the Bretton Woods Conference held in July 1944. At that time, it was envisaged that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund would be established at the same time as the International Trade Organization, thus making them a trinity of "money-finance-trade" institutions that affected the world economy after World War II. 1947 The Havana Charter signed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment agreed to establish the WTO. Later, due to opposition from the United States, the WTO was not established. In the same year, the United States initiated the drafting of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade as a temporary contract to promote trade liberalization. After the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations began in 1986, the European Community and Canada formally proposed the establishment of the WTO in 1990, and the GATT Ministerial Conference held in Marrakech, Morocco in April 1994 formally decided to establish the WTO.
The WTO is regarded as the representative of the multilateral trading system, and its core is the WTO agreement. These agreements were reached and signed by most countries and regions in the world through negotiations, and were approved by the legislatures of all member countries. These agreements contain the legal rules prevailing in international trade. On the one hand, they protect members' important trade rights, on the other hand, they play a binding role and keep their trade policies within the limits agreed by all parties, which is in line with the interests of all parties. This is to help product manufacturers and service providers and promote the development of import and export business.
The main goal of the WTO is to help develop smooth, free and fair trade. Ways to achieve these goals include: managing WTO agreements, handling trade disputes, monitoring national trade policies, providing technical assistance and training to developing countries, and cooperating with other international organizations.
The purpose of WTO is to expand the production and trade of goods and services on the premise of improving living standards and ensuring full employment, and to realize the optimal allocation of global resources in accordance with the principle of sustainable development; Strive to ensure that the share of developing countries, especially the least developed countries, in the growth of international trade is commensurate with their economic needs; Protect and maintain the environment. The goal of WTO is to establish a complete, more dynamic and permanent multilateral trading system. Compared with GATT, the jurisdiction of the World Trade Organization includes not only the traditional trade in goods determined by the Uruguay Round, but also intellectual property rights, investment measures and non-goods trade (service trade) that have long been outside GATT. The World Trade Organization has the status of a legal person, and it has higher authority and effectiveness in mediating disputes among its members. The basic principles of the World Trade Organization are non-discriminatory trade principles, including most-favored-nation treatment and national treatment clauses; Predictable and expanding market access, mainly tariff terms; Promote fair competition and strive to establish an open, fair and free trade environment and rules without distorting competition; Encourage development and economic reform. The basic functions of the WTO are: to manage and implement the multilateral and plurilateral trade agreements that constitute the WTO; As a forum for multilateral trade negotiations; Seek to resolve trade disputes; Supervise members' trade policies and cooperate with other international institutions related to the formulation of global economic policies. The goal of WTO is to establish a complete, more dynamic and permanent multilateral trading system. Compared with GATT, the jurisdiction of WTO includes not only the traditional trade in goods determined by Uruguay Round, but also intellectual property rights, investment measures and non-goods trade (service trade) that have long been outside GATT. The WTO has the status of a legal person and has higher authority and effectiveness in mediating disputes among its members.
200165438+February1kloc-0/,China officially joined the World Trade Organization, becoming its143rd member. The picture shows the signing ceremony of the protocol on China's accession to the WTO held in Doha, Qatar on 20011.
The ministerial meeting is the highest decision-making body of the WTO. Generally, it meets once every two years to discuss and decide all important issues related to the functions of the WTO and take action. The main functions of the ministerial meeting are: to appoint the Director-General of the WTO and formulate relevant rules; To determine the authority, duties, qualifications and term of office of the Director-General, as well as the duties and qualifications of the staff of the Secretariat; Explain WTO agreements and multilateral trade agreements; Exempt a member from its obligations under WTO agreements and other multilateral trade agreements; To consider the motions put forward by its members to amend WTO agreements or multilateral trade agreements; Deciding whether to accept the countries or regions applying for joining the WTO; Decide on the effective date of World Trade Organization agreements and multilateral trade agreements. There is a general Council and a secretariat, which are responsible for the daily meetings and work of the WTO. WTO members can be divided into founding members and new members. The founding members must be contracting parties to GATT, and new members can only join after being approved by the Council of Ministers, the decision-making body.
1On 9 October, the WTO launched a new logo. The sign consists of six upward curved arcs, the upper three and the lower three are red, blue and green respectively. The symbol means that a dynamic WTO will play a key role in the sustained and orderly expansion of world trade. The sphere composed of six arcs shows that the WTO is an international institution composed of different members. The logo is a long-term dynamic symbol of the vitality of the WTO. The designer of the logo is Ms. Yang Shu from Singapore. Her design adopts the strokes of China traditional calligraphy, and the six arcs have the charm of writing brush calligraphy.
On August 30th, 2003, the General Council of WTO unanimously adopted the Final Document on Implementing the Compulsory Licensing System for Patented Drugs. According to the provisions of this document, developing members and least developed members can produce, use and sell patented drugs for treating diseases that lead to public health crisis without the permission of the patentee when public health crisis occurs due to epidemic diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. This will not only greatly reduce the market price of related patented drugs, but also help to control and alleviate the public health crisis more quickly and effectively, and ensure that the basic rights of life and health are respected and protected. The WTO revised the core agreement for the first time.
In February of the same year, the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the WTO was held in Hongkong, China from 13 to 18, and the Ministerial Declaration was adopted at the meeting, stipulating that developed members and some developing members would provide duty-free and quota-free market access for all products of the least developed countries by 2008; Developed members cancelled cotton export subsidies in 2006 and all forms of agricultural products export subsidies before the end of 20 13.
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International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an intergovernmental international financial organization. 1945 65438+formally established on February 27th. 1 March 9471,1947165438+1October 15 started work and became a specialized agency of the United Nations, with its own independence in operation. Headquartered in Washington.
The purpose of the organization is to promote international monetary cooperation through a permanent institution and provide methods for consultation and cooperation on international monetary issues; Through the expansion and balanced development of international trade, the primary goal of economic policy is to promote and maintain the employment, development of production resources and high-level real income of member countries; Stabilize the international exchange rate, maintain orderly exchange rate arrangements among member countries, and avoid competitive exchange rate depreciation; Assist member countries to establish a multilateral payment system for regular transactions and abolish foreign exchange controls that hinder world trade; Under the condition of proper guarantee, the IMF temporarily provides ordinary funds to member countries, so that they are confident to take this opportunity to correct the imbalance of international payments without taking measures that endanger their own or international prosperity; According to the above objectives, we will shorten the time and reduce the imbalance of international payments among member States.
The fund of the organization comes from the share subscribed by each member. Members have the right to draw, that is, to borrow foreign exchange according to a certain proportion of their paid shares. 1969 created the currency (accounting) unit of "Special Drawing Rights" as a supplement to international circulation means to alleviate the international income deficit of some members. Members are obliged to provide economic information and accept the supervision of the organization in foreign exchange policy and management.
The highest authority of the IMF is the board of directors, which consists of 1 chairman and 1 vice-chairman from all members, usually held by finance ministers or central bank governors. A meeting is held in September every year, and each Council independently exercises its voting rights (the voting rights of each country are determined by the amount of funds paid); The executive board of directors is responsible for the daily work and exercises all powers entrusted by the board of directors. It consists of 24 executive directors, six of whom are appointed by the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russian Federation, China and Saudi Arabia, and the remaining 16 executive directors are elected by other members of the 16 constituency. China is a separate constituency with only one seat. Executive directors are elected every two years; The managing director is elected by the executive board and is responsible for the business of the International Monetary Fund. The term of office is five years and can be renewed. There are also three vice presidents.
The temporary committee of the organization is regarded as the decision-making and guiding body of the International Monetary Fund, one of the two largest financial institutions in the world. The Committee will play a full role in policy cooperation and coordination, especially in formulating the medium-term strategy. The Committee consists of 24 executive directors. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank hold annual meetings.
International located in Washington, USA
IMF Headquarters Building
The main publications are: World Economic Outlook, International Financial Statistics (monthly), Overview of the International Monetary Fund (weekly), Balance of Payments Statistics (monthly) and Yearbook of Government Financial Statistics.
China is one of the founding members of the organization. 1980 On April 17, the organization officially resumed its representation in China. China's share in the organization is 3,385.2 million special drawing rights, accounting for 2.34% of the total share. China has 34 102 votes, accounting for 2.28% of the total voting rights. After China resumed his seat in the IMF from 1980, he formed a constituency and sent an executive director. 199 1, which established a permanent representative office in Beijing.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
1949 On April 4th, 12 countries, including the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Portugal and Italy, signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Washington, D.C.. As of March 29th, 2004, NATO has 26 member countries. The Secretary-General is Jaap de jaap de hoop scheffer, who took office in June 2004.
There are 14 articles in the North Atlantic Treaty, aiming at "collective defense" between the contracting parties. When any contracting state goes to war with another country, member States must give assistance, including the use of force. The founding members of NATO include the United States, Canada, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Britain, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Portugal and Italy.
The basic framework of NATO
NATO was once called North Atlantic Alliance or North Atlantic Group. The highest decision-making body of NATO is the NATO Council. The Council is composed of heads of state and government, foreign ministers and defense ministers of member States, and the Standing Council is composed of ambassadors of member States. Headquartered in Brussels. Greece and Turkey joined the organization on 1952, and the Federal Republic of Germany and Spain joined on 1955 and 1982 respectively.
In the 1990s, with the dissolution of Warsaw Pact, which was established in May 1955, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the political and security situation in Europe has undergone tremendous changes, and NATO began to transform into a political and military organization.
1in July, 1990, 1 1 NATO summit announced the end of the cold war in London. 19911February, NATO decided to establish the North Atlantic Cooperation Council with some Central and Eastern European countries at the Rome Summit. Since 1992, Poland and other eastern European countries have put forward the requirements of joining NATO. In the same year, NATO approved a principle that allowed its troops to leave the territories of member States and participate in peacekeeping operations elsewhere. At the end of that year, NATO decided to intervene in the Yugoslav crisis by force.
NATO Summit held in Prague in June 2002.
1994 in June, 5438+ 10, NATO Brussels Summit adopted a plan to establish a "partnership for peace" with Central and Eastern European countries and Russia, and began to send peacekeeping troops to Bosnia and Herzegovina in February. 1In September 1996, NATO published a research report on its eastward expansion plan. 1In May 1997, the Euro-Atlantic Cooperation Council, which replaced the North Atlantic Cooperation Council and aimed at strengthening the security relations between NATO and non-NATO member countries in Europe and Eurasia, was formally established. The Madrid Summit in July decided to admit Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary as NATO members. 1March 1999, these three countries formally became new members of NATO. So far, NATO members have grown to 19. In June 2002, NATO Prague Summit decided to admit Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria to NATO. This is the largest expansion of NATO since the establishment of 1949. In March, 2004, the above seven countries formally submitted the legal texts of their own accession to NATO, thus becoming new NATO members, expanding the number of NATO members from the current 19 to 26.
In June 2003, the meeting of defense ministers of NATO member States decided to improve NATO's emergency response capability by streamlining its military command structure. According to the plan, NATO's future military command system is divided into three levels: strategic command, theater command and tactical command. The current 20 NATO military command structures will be reduced to 1 1 in the future. At the strategic level, NATO's European Allied Command and Atlantic Allied Command will be merged into the Allied Combat Command, which will be NATO's "only" highest military operation command, headquartered in Mons, Belgium. In addition, NATO will establish a functional Allied Reform Command, which will be responsible for promoting and supervising military reform, with the goal of strengthening training, improving military capabilities, testing and developing military principles, and evaluating new concepts through experiments. Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. At the theater level, the existing five theater headquarters will be streamlined into two permanent Coalition headquarters, directly under the Allied Operations Command. The headquarters of these two theaters are located in brunson, the Netherlands and Naples. In addition, a "lean" permanent Coalition headquarters was established in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, only responsible for maritime deployment tasks. At the tactical level, the existing 13 subordinate operational command will be reduced to six, which are distributed in Germany, Britain, Spain and Turkey, and belong to the above two permanent joint force commands. On September 1 day of the same year, the commander of NATO's Supreme Allied Command in Europe was officially renamed NATO Allied Military Operations Command, which was fully responsible for the command and coordination of all NATO military operations. Its top military officer is craddock, who took office on February 6, 2006.
non-aligned movement
The Non-Aligned Movement sprouted in the Cold War era. 1956, Yugoslav President Tito, Egyptian President Nasser and Indian Prime Minister Nehru held talks, and put forward the idea of non-alignment in view of the serious confrontation between the two major military groups in the East and the West at that time, which affected the vast number of small and medium-sized countries. 1961September, at the initiative of yugoslavia, Egypt, India and Indonesia, the first summit of non-aligned countries was held in belgrade, the capital of yugoslavia, and 25 countries attended the meeting, formally forming the non-aligned movement.
The Non-Aligned Movement pursues the purposes and principles of independence, autonomy and non-alignment; Support the struggle of people of all countries to safeguard national independence, defend national sovereignty and develop national economy and culture; Persist in opposing imperialism, colonialism, ethnic culture and all forms of foreign rule and hegemonism; Call on developing countries to strengthen unity; Advocate the democratization of international relations and establish a new international political and economic order.
The Non-Aligned Movement does not have a headquarters, a permanent body or a written constitution. It regularly holds summit meetings, foreign ministers' meetings, foreign ministers' meetings of the coordination bureau and meetings of the new york coordination bureau. The summit is the most important meeting. Since 1970, the duration of the summit has been institutionalized and held every three years. All meetings of the Non-Aligned Movement adopt the principle of consensus. In case of differences, member States may formally make reservations to the Chairman in writing to show that they are not bound by relevant resolutions or documents.
The 1st13rd Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement was held in Kuala Lumpur.
The Non-Aligned Movement has 1 16 members (Cyprus withdrew from the Non-Aligned Movement on May 6, 2004; In May 2006, Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, two observer countries, were admitted as new members, both of which are developing countries. China has always attached great importance to its relations with the Non-Aligned Movement, maintained good cooperation with the Movement in international affairs, and officially became an observer of the Movement in September. 1992.
Mikhail Gorbachev
Although former Soviet President Gorbachev rarely appeared on TV, his present life is closely related to the media: shooting a series of films, recording music topics and giving speeches in the United States. In his own words, he had to work hard to make money. Oksana Khimich, a Russian journalist familiar with Gorbachev, recently revealed Gorbachev's "happy life".
Life is not rich.
Gorbachev is different from Yeltsin. After Yeltsin leaves office, he can still enjoy various generous benefits of about $2 million a year, and Gorbachev has to find his own way to make money. He not only published books, but also gave lectures in American universities. For Gorbachev, 1992 and 1993 were the most difficult economic years. At that time, the ruble depreciated sharply, and the monthly pension of 4,000 rubles sounded a lot, but it was worthless. Moreover, a house under the name of Gorbachev Foundation was taken away, and he had to ask others to complain ... The hard life at that time always discouraged Gorbachev.
Many people will ask, what does Gorbachev do? He himself revealed that his lecture fees in American universities are more generous than those of other lecturers. However, his expenses are also very large. It costs $800,000 a year to maintain the Gorbachev Foundation, so he still has to work hard to make money.
Visit former dignitaries of various countries
Gorbachev has been filming the TV series "The Secret of Power" for more than a year, and he finds it very interesting. His granddaughter also supports him-their dream is to be a reporter. Part of the series has been completed, and Gorbachev interviewed some important people, such as Cole, George H.W. Bush and Perez. The play was originally planned to shoot 12 episodes, but it stopped halfway. The problem is the Pope, because he hates filming. Castro refused to make a film. Gorbachev was also embarrassed by Margaret Thatcher. Margaret Thatcher said that she had participated in similar activities in Britain. But Arafat was very active in interviews and filming.
Before Gorbachev went to Bush's ranch for an interview, some people worried that he would be jealous of the life of the former American president. Bush lives in an ancestral manor in Maine. Although everything was simple, he spent 75 million dollars to build a library.
Recently, Gorbachev just received a letter from George H.W. Bush, inviting him to be a guest. Two years ago, he, his daughter and granddaughter were invited to visit the elder Bush's house, and the two families stayed together for three days.
Recite for a music album
Gorbachev, Clinton and sophia loren jointly recorded a fairy tale music album and played Peter and the Wolf by Russian composer sergey prokofiev with a symphony. This work shows the balance between human needs and environmental protection. Clinton and sophia loren voiced the characters, and Gorbachev recited the commentary. The language of comments is concise and easy to understand.
The music album will be put on the market next year, and its commercial value depends on the sales volume. Sophia loren, Clinton and Gorbachev received the same remuneration, and Gorbachev has decided to donate to the "Green Cross" ecological project.
At the end of last year, Gorbachev's granddaughter Kseniya went to Paris, which attracted public attention. Kseniya is reserved and doesn't like being interviewed by reporters. Gorbachev always told her to get used to socializing. Kseniya, a graduate of the International Journalism Department of Moscow Institute of International Relations, plans to hold a wedding in April.
The eldest granddaughter doesn't like to appear in public, while the younger granddaughter Anna Stasija is the opposite. The little granddaughter is very clever and never lets herself be wronged. After she graduated from middle school, influenced by her sister, she also planned to be a reporter. Now she and her friends have opened a column for minors in the new newspaper.
Gorbachev and his daughter Irina meet almost every day. Sometimes in the office of the foundation, sometimes at home. Irina sold a house and used the money to buy a small house in the suburbs, mainly to live closer to Gorbachev. Irina takes good care of Gorbachev's diet and daily life. Sometimes Gorbachev feels headache after sitting and working for a long time. Irina took him out for a walk to relax. Gorbachev's family often spend holidays together. They like to find a distant place for their holidays. Last time I went to Crete, Greece and last time I went to Dominica.
Miss your dead wife Raisa.
Gorbachev's wife Raisa has died, and now she has a good relationship with a woman from California, Ji 'an. Someone asked him if there were any romantic stories with Ji 'an. Gorbachev replied that Ji 'an was a friend of his family, and they had known each other since his wife Raisa was alive. But there are all kinds of news in the newspaper. Some tabloids even said Gorbachev was going to elope with Ji 'an.
Ji 'an is a rich, well-educated lady and very popular. She supported leftist views when she was young, and now she is the honorary chairman of the American Green Cross organization. Ji 'an is divorced now, raising three children by herself, and she often takes them to Gorbachev's house as guests.
Now Gorbachev lives in a state apartment, which was allocated by the state to the former president. Gorbachev also has a three-bedroom house on kosygin Avenue. That's where he and his wife Raisa live, and everything is the same as when she was alive. Gorbachev often goes there to recall the days spent with Raisa.
Not long ago, San Remo, Italy, sent an invitation to participate in the traditional Italian song festival. For the last time, he went with Raisa, and the welcoming scene was grand and crowded, which deeply touched him. He has agreed to take part in this activity, but his wife Raisa is gone ... —— International Herald Tribune Maru.
Gorbachev and Mel are together.
Gorbachev fell in love with American rich woman Mel?
Russian and western media recently revealed that Gorbachev, the first and last president of the former Soviet Union, fell in love with American billionaire Dean Mayer. When this statement came out, it caused an uproar in Russia and abroad. In this regard, Gorbachev's spokesman Palashenko categorically denied it.
Who is the rich woman?
Dean Mel Saimon is 50 years old and now lives in California. According to major media reports in California and new york, this billionaire has replaced Raisa as Gorbachev's new sweetheart. Dean Mayer is well-educated, blond and outstanding in temperament. Dean Mayer's ex-husband Herb is a famous real estate developer in America. They got married on 1980 and have three daughters. After Herb's death, Dummel inherited the11trade center. As early as 1996, Forbes magazine listed Diane as one of the richest women in the United States with a net worth of $355 million. After his death, Dianmel was enthusiastic about public welfare and actively participated in environmental protection activities. 1992, Gorbachev established the global environmental protection organization "International Green Cross" in Kyoto, which coincides with Yunnan Meier. Two years later, Gorbachev authorized Timmel to set up his own branch in the United States. Last spring, Dean Mayer funded Gorbachev to set up his own Internet homepage and became the main "blood transfusion" of Gorbachev Foundation.
Raisa died of leukemia on 1999, which was a great blow to Gorbachev. He was once depressed and spent all day with his daughter and granddaughter. Gorbachev will celebrate his 7 1 birthday on March 2nd this year. This well-known strong-hearted politician is unwilling to be lonely, and the rumors about Gorbachev's "adding new branches to old trees" are getting stronger and stronger.
Gorbachev's press spokesman made a slip of the tongue to deny it.
As a spokesman for the Gorbachev Foundation, Pavel Palashenko flatly denied: "Gorbachev and his wife Raisa knew Dean Mayer as early as eight years ago. This is a very beautiful, very pleasing and active woman. Although she is currently single, according to the current statement, this is a free woman, but Gorbachev has not seen her for more than a year. " Palashenko said that he had passed the article fragments about Gorbachev's new love to Gorbachev himself, and believed that this weather-beaten old man had the ability to face these rumors calmly.
Boris Yeltsin
Boris nikolayevich yeltsin (1 931February1) was born in a peasant family in Butca village, Daritsky district, Sverdlovsk region, and he was Russian. 1955 After graduating from the Architecture Department of Ural Institute of Technology, I worked in Sverdlovsk for 30 years. He used to be the chief engineer and manager of the municipal housing and construction joint company, and after 1976, he served as the first secretary of the CPSU Sverdlovsk State Committee.
1985 was transferred to Moscow as a party and government figure, from 1985 to 1987 to 1 as the first secretary of the CPSU Moscow Municipal Committee, from 1987 to1. /kloc-0 was elected as the representative of the Soviet people in March, 1989, and/kloc-0 was elected as the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation in May, 1990 at the First People's Congress of the Russian Federation. 1in July, 990, at the 28th congress of CPSU, a series of ideas put forward by the "democratic program faction" represented by Jelchin aimed at transforming the Soviet society at that time were not accepted by the congress, and Jelchin announced his withdrawal from the Soviet Union at the end of the congress. 199 1 In June, Yeltsin was elected as the first president of the Russian Federation in the national election. In February of the same year, it issued a joint declaration with other republics of the former Soviet Union 10, announcing the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States. 1996 was re-elected president of the Russian Federation. 199965438+On February 3 1, Yeltsin delivered a televised speech, announcing the early dismissal of the presidency and appointing Prime Minister Putin as acting president.
The author of the presidential marathon. Has visited China many times.
Mrs. Naina is a construction engineer. They have two daughters, one is an architectural engineer and the other is a cybernetic engineer.