Passage Five The World Trade Organization (WTO), founded on January 1, 1995, aims to encourage international trade to flow as freely as possible, sure that trade agreements are respected and that any disputes can be settled. In the five years since its founding, the WTO has become well known as one of the world ’ s most powerful economic organizations, taking its place alongside the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The system of global rules for international trade, however, dates back half a century to 1948 when the General Agreement on Tariffs ( 关税 ) and Trade (GATT) was formed after World War II. As time went by, it became clear that the GATT had two major drawbacks --- the limited areas of trade it covered, and the lack of an effective system to settle disputes. After seven years of trade talks ending in 1994, the so-called Uruguay Round ( 乌拉圭回合谈判） finally gave birth to the WTO, complete with an effective system to settle disputes and to form new rules covering trade and with 22,500 pages of agreements reached problems remained, especially in the difficult-to-deal-with areas of agriculture and services. 1. What is the purpose of the WTO?