IntroductionUntil the end of the twentieth century, multilateral international trade functioned without an international organization coordinating between countries. Some may justify the role of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in multilateral trade since the GATT provided the rules for the international trading system before the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). However, the GATT was just a set of rules established by its trading nations without institutional foundation, and did not have the same international influence as other international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank (Krueger & Aturupane 1998, p. 1). Finally, everything changed in 1994, in order to strengthen the international trading system, the GATT was replaced by the WTO after seven years of effort in the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations. With the establishment of the WTO, for the first time, the international trading system functions under a robust international organization with fully legal characteristics (ed. Rugman & Boyd 2001). The WTO today is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is composed of 159 member countries, of which 24 are current candidates and 80% of current members are developing countries (WTO 2013). This paper argues that the WTO plays a key role as an international organization in the development of multilateral international trade. in terms of laying the foundations of a free and fair world trading system and creating a remarkably stable external environment. At the same time, however, there are also several challenges waiting to be addressed by the organization.Promoting Peace and Managing DisputesThe WTO Trading System......middle of paper......oad_i/10b_i . pdf.WTO 2013, WTO Members and Candidates for Membership, Report of the Organization, viewed 21 May 2014, retrieved from http://www.wto.org.WTO 2001, Trading into the Future, Report of the Organization , viewed 21 May 2014, retrieved from http ://www.wto.org.Rugman, A & Boyd, G (eds) 2001, The World Trade Organization in the new global economy, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, United Kingdom. Jawara, F & Kwa, A 2003, Behind the scene at the WTO: the real world of international trade negotiations, Zed Books, London, UK. Sampson, G (ed.) 2001, The Role of the World Trade Organization in Global Governance, United Nations University Press, Tokyo, Japan. Charnovitz , S 1999, Addressing environmental and labor issues in the World Trade Organization, Democratic Leadership Council, accessed 22 May 2014, http://www.dlc.org/ndol_cid308.html?kaid=108&subid=128&contentid=649.