The World Trade Organization is the sole global body that deals with fairness in trade among nations. It designs rules to ensure that large economies and small economies are at par in economic growth. However, its policies and propositions are not popular with most nations. Its aims are to facilitate demand and supply by ensuring that producers of goods and services find a way to export their products and those that do not produce find a way to import what they need. Through its membership, World Trade Organization facilitates two major world forums. The Doha Development Agenda is a trade negotiations forum. It is designed to achieve groundbreaking reforms in the manner in which world economies conduct their trade. The forum’s agenda is to inject revised rules and to improve the international trade system through systematic introduction of minimal trade restrictions. It was officially launched in Qatar in 2001. Ministers of respective countries tasked with commerce, trade, and sometimes finance attend the forum. Each minister goes to the table to air their countries’ views. The Doha development agenda covers around 20 critical areas of world economy, which include agriculture, services, imports, exports, intellectual property, among others.
World Trade Organization’s advocacy for free global trade has not been popular with majority of the nations. Although free trade has many benefits as opposed to closed trade, many countries perceive free trade negatively and bring down any attempts at making the world economy free of national and regional barriers. For example, in 2003 during the talks that were held in Caucun Mexico, the world witnessed massive protests. This was the third ministerial meeting with the same agenda: trying to break the deadlock that had been experienced in the last two sittings since the first round in Qatar.
The second major forum facilitated by World Trade Organization is the World Trade Forum. This forum seeks common ground on how countries can work together in tackling common global problems that go beyond the need for economic integration. This includes the need for development in major areas such as education. Major economies and their leaders normally attend it. They review goals and targets such as millennium development goals. This forum is generalist compared to the Doha round of negotiations. However, it is important to note that they both champion for a more developed world, which caters for the need of everyone. Although WTO is an effective organization, its influence is dwindling in light of the mistrust that is growing among many countries towards effectiveness of applicability of the organizations principles.