The WTO currently has 164 members. Its newest member, Afghanistan, joined the Organization on 29 July 2016. Negotiations with 21 other countries – including Algeria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Comoros – are currently ongoing. Once the WTO Ministerial Conference or, representing it, the General Council of the WTO accepts the accession of a country to the WTO, the accession candidates have six months to ratify the accession agreements. They become WTO members 30 days after they have formally notified the WTO of their acceptance. Germany was a founding member of the WTO in 1995.

The WTO’s decision-making bodies are the Ministerial Conference, the General Council, a number of additional councils and committees, and the WTO Secretariat.


Ministerial conference

The Ministerial Conference is the WTO’s supreme decision-making body. It consists of representatives of all WTO members – in most cases, economic affairs, trade or foreign ministers – and meets at least once every two years. The last (12th) WTO Ministerial Conference took place in Geneva from 12-17 June 2022. The Ministerial Conference is responsible for the functioning of the WTO and decides not least about the deployment of specific councils, the appointment of the WTO Directors-General, the definition of their powers, and changes to WTO rules. Decisions in the Ministerial Conference are normally taken in a consensus. Here, each WTO member country has one vote.

The next (13th) Ministerial Conference is taking place in Abu Dhabi from 26-29 February 2024.


General Council and its functions

The General Council of the WTO is responsible for handling the ongoing WTO affairs between the sessions of the Ministerial Conference, and takes decisions by a simple, two-thirds, three-quarters majority or unanimously – depending on their impact. In formal terms, it acts not only as the “General Council”, but also as the “Dispute Settlement Body” to survey compliance with WTO conflict resolution rules, and as the “Trade Policy Review Body”, which regularly places a spotlight on the developments in the trade policies of the WTO members.


Other councils and bodies

The General Council is supported by other bodies too: the Council for Trade in Goods, the Council for Trade in Services, the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the Committee on Trade and Development, the Committee on Balance-of-Payments Restrictions, and the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration.


Director-General and Secretariat

The main tasks of the Secretariat include the preparation and holding of negotiations between the WTO contracting parties, advising them, analysing and presenting the development of world trade, and supporting activities relating to the dispute settlement procedures.
Since 2021 Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has held the office of the WTO Director-General – the first woman and first African to hold this post. Germany and the EU had given determined backing to her nomination.