(Al Neelain University, 2002) Azhari Ibrahim Basbar
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was signed in
Geneva in 1947 and entered into force in the beginning of 1948 as a framework to
regulate international trade among its signatories. The arrangements entered into
were directed to the substantial reduction of tariff barriers and other barriers to
trade, and to the elimination of discrimination in international trade (WTO 1995,
p486; FAO l998,p4). The World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) were established in Bretton Woods in 1944 in order to deal with matters of
intemational finance and development were associated initiatives (FAO 1998, p4).
