The World Trade Organization (WTO), established on 1 January 1995, is the legal and institutional
foundation of the multilateral trading system. It provides the principal contractual obligations determining how
governments frame and implement domestic trade legislation and regulations. It is the platform on which trade relations among countries evolve through collective debate, negotiation and adjudication.
The WTO is the embodiment of the results of the Uruguay Round trade negotiations and the successor to
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).