WTO
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international organisation
that manages the rules of trade between member states. Australia is
a founding member of both the WTO and its predecessor the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. WTO members agree on legally binding
trade rules that provide certainty for business while member states use
the WTO's dispute settlement system to uphold these rules. Australia
is committed to the multilateral trading system and to opening and
maintaining access to markets through multilateral trade negotiations in
the WTO.
In order to create opportunities for business, Australia pursues
international agreements on trade issues such as services, agriculture and
intellectual property.
Australia also works through the WTO to promote trade capacity building
in developing countries. For more information visit the WTO page.
G20
The G20 is the world's premier forum for cooperation on international
economic governance. The G20 consists of 19 countries and the European
Union and represents around 86 per cent of global output, more
than 75 per cent of global trade and almost two-thirds of the world's
population. The G20 has met as a leader-level forum since 2008 and in
2014 Australia held the G20 Presidency.
Australia worked closely with China as G20 President in 2016 to advance
G20 actions that promote strong trade and economic growth. Australia is
actively engaged in the G20 under the Presidency of Germany in 2017, and
will be again in Argentina in 2018. For more information see the G20 page or visit www.g20.org.
APEC
As the leading economic forum in the Asia-Pacific, the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum has delivered substantial gains for
businesses and consumers in Australia and throughout the region. APEC is
pursuing an ambitious agenda of trade liberalisation, business facilitation,
economic cooperation and technical assistance. The private sector
engages closely with the APEC process, particularly through the APEC
Business Advisory Council.
Seven of Australia's 10 largest export markets are within APEC, including
our top three export markets China, Japan and the United States. In 2015,
over 72 per cent of Australia's trade was with APEC members. Peru was
the APEC host in 2016, with Vietnam to take over the role in 2017 and
Papua New Guinea in 2018. For more information see
www.apec.orgAustralia
