Write short notes on the following :

1. UNCTAD 2. MIGA

3. World Bank 4. ITPO

5. IMF

UNCTAD that come into being in 1964 is the interntional institution shaping international trade. The widening trade gap between the developed an developing countries. The general dis-satisfaction of developing countries with the GATT and the need for international economic cooperation led to the setting up of UNCTAD.

The basic functions of UNCTAD are :

(i) To promote international trade with a view to accelerating economic development.

(ii) To formulate principles and policies on international trade and related problems of economic development.

(iii) To negotiate multinational trade agreements.

(iv) To make proposals for putting its principles and policies into effect.

(ii) MIGA : The Multionational Investment Guarantee Agency was established in April 1988 to supplement the functions of World Bank and International Finance Corporation.

The objectives of MIGA are :

1. To encourage flow of direct foreign investment into the less developed member countries.

2. To provide insurance cover to investors against political risks.

3. To provide guarantee against non-commerical risks (like dangers involved in currency transfer, war and civil disturbances and breach of contract).

4. To insure new investments, expansion of existing investments, privatization and financial restructuring.

5. To provide promotional and advisory services.

6. To establish creditability.

(iii) World Bank : The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) also known as World Bank was established with the objectives of setting up an international organisation to aid the task of reconstruction of the war affected economies of Europe and assist in the development of the underdeveloped nations of the world. World Bank successfully achieved the objective by the late 1950s to a great extent, it turned its attention to the development of under developed nations by investing in social sectors like health and education. To fulfill this objective, the International Development Association (IDA) was set up in the year 1960. The focus of IDA is to provide concessional loans to those countries whose per capita incomes are below a critical level. It is also called the ‘soft loan” window of IBRD.

Over the years, different organisations have been set up under the banner of World Bank namely.

(a) International Financial Corporation (IFC) 1956.

(b) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) 1988.

(c) International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ISCID) 1966.

International Finance Corporation (IFC) was set up in July 1956 to provide finance to the private sector of developing cour tries.

(iv) ITPO : Indian Trade Promotion Organisation was wet up on 1st Jan 1992 under the Companies Act 1956 by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India. Its headquarter is at New Delhi. ITPO was formed by merging the two existing agencies—Trade Development Auhtority and Trade Fair Authority of India. ITPO is a service organisation and maintains regular and close interactions with trade, industry and Government. It serves the industry by organising trade fair, and exhibitions both within and outside the country, helping export firms participate in international trade fairs and exhibitions, developing exports of new items, providing support and updated commerical business information. It has five regional offices at Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkatta, Kanpur and Chennai and fair international offices at Germany, Japan, UAE and USA.

(v) IMF : International Monetary Fund (IMF) came into existence in 1945. It has now 191 countries as its members. The idea behind its establishment is to develop an orderly international; monetary system i.e. fluctuating system of international payments and adjustments in exchange rates among national currencies.

Functions of IMF :

1. Acting as a short term credit institution.

2. Providing machinery for the orderly adjustment of exchange rates.

3. Acting as a reservoir of the currencies of all the member countries, from which a borrower nation can borrow the currency of other nations.

4. Acting as a lending institutions of foreign currency and current transactions.

5. Providing machinery for international consultations.

6. Determining value of a country’s currency and alterning it, if needed, so as to bring about an orderly adjustment of exchange rates of member countries.