Context: Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was recently appointed as the first female and first African head of the World Trade Organization.
About World Trade Organization (WTO)

• It is an intergovernmental organization that is concerned with the regulation of international trade between nations. 
• The WTO was instituted on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT, 1948).
• The GATT mainly dealt with trade in goods, the WTO and its agreements also cover trade in services and intellectual property. The birth of the WTO also created new procedures for the settlement of disputes.
• It is the largest international economic organization in the world.

Members

• It includes 164 members and 25 observer governments since 29 July 2016, with dates of WTO membership.
• The International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO is a joint subsidiary organ of the WTO.
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have observer status in WTO bodies as provided for in their respective Agreements with the WTO.

Functions
Trade negotiations

• The WTO agreements cover goods, services and intellectual property. 
• They include individual countries’ commitments to lower customs tariffs and other trade barriers, and to open and keep open services markets. They set procedures for settling disputes. 

Implementation and monitoring

• WTO agreements require governments to make their trade policies transparent by notifying the WTO about laws in force and measures adopted.

Dispute settlement

• The WTO’s procedure for resolving trade quarrels under the Dispute Settlement Understanding is vital for enforcing the rules and therefore for ensuring that trade flows smoothly. 

Building trade capacity

• Aid for Trade aims to help developing countries develop the skills and infrastructure needed to expand their trade.

Outreach

• The WTO maintains regular dialogue with non-governmental organizations, parliamentarians, other international organizations, the media and the general public on various aspects of the WTO, with the aim of enhancing cooperation and increasing awareness of WTO activities.

Organizational Structure

• The highest authority of the WTO is the Ministerial Conference, which must meet at least every two years.

In between each Ministerial Conference, the daily work is handled by three bodies

1. The General Council (highest decision-making body)
2. The Dispute Settlement Body
3. The Trade Policy Review Body

All major decisions are made by the membership as a whole, either by ministers (who usually meet at least once every two years) or by their ambassadors or delegates (who meet regularly in Geneva).

• The operation of the WTO dispute settlement process involves case-specific panels appointed by the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), the Appellate Body, The Director-General and the WTO Secretariat, arbitrators, and advisory experts.

Agreements of WTO

• Agreement on Agriculture
• General Agreement on Trade in Services
• Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights 
• Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
• Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade 
• Agreement on Customs Valuation