| Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) | A regional trade organization founded in 1989 that now includes 21 countries.
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| Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) | A regional organization that emphasizes trade relations, established in 1967; now includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
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| bilateral trade agreement (BTA) | A free trade agreement between two countries or between a regional trade agreement and any other non-member-country.
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| development capital | Monies and resources needed by less developed countries to increase their economic growth and diversify their economies.
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| Doha Round | The ninth and latest round of GATT negotiations to reduce barriers to international free economic interchange. The round is named after the 2001 WTO ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, where agreement to try to negotiate a new round of reductions in barriers by 2005 was reached.
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| Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) | The tentative name given by the 34 countries that met in December 1994 at the Summit of the Americas to a proposed Western Hemisphere free trade zone.
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| General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) | The world's primary organization promoting the expansion of free trade. Established in 1947, it has grown to a membership of over 100.
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| interdependence | The close interrelationship and mutual dependence of two or more domestic economies on each other.
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| International Conference on Financing for Development (ICFD) | A UN-sponsored conference on development programs for the South that met in Monterrey, Mexico, during March 2002. Fifty heads of state or government, as well as over 200 government cabinet ministers, leaders from NGOs, and leaders from the major IGOs attended the conference.
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| International Monetary Fund (IMF) | The world's primary organization devoted to maintaining monetary stability by helping countries to fund balance-of payment deficits. Established in 1947, it now has 185 members.
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| North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) | An economic agreement among Canada, Mexico, and the United States that went into effect on January 1, 1994. It will eliminate most trade barriers by 2009 and will also eliminate or reduce restrictions on foreign investments and other financial transactions among the NAFTA countries.
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| Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) | An organization that has existed since 1948 (and since 1960 under its present name) to facilitate the exchange of information and otherwise to promote cooperation among the economically developed countries. In recent years, the OECD has started accepting a few newly industrializing and former communist countries in transition as members.
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| regional trade agreement (RTA) | A broad term used by the World Trade Organization to define bilateral and cross-regional agreements as well as multilateral regional ones.
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| special drawing rights (SDRs) | Reserves held by the International Monetary Fund that the central banks of member-countries can draw on to help manage the values of their currencies. SDR value is based on a market-basket of currencies, and SDRs are acceptable in transactions between central banks.
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| UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) | A UN organization established in 1964 and currently consisting of all UN members plus the Holy See, Switzerland, and Tonga, which holds quadrennial meetings aimed at promoting international trade and economic development.
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| UN Development Programme (UNDP) | An agency of the UN established in 1965 to provide technical assistance to stimulate economic and social development in the economically less developed countries. The UNDP has 48 members selected on a rotating basis from the world's regions.
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| Uruguay Round | The eighth round of GATT negotiations to reduce tariffs and non tariff barriers to trade. The eighth round was convened in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in 1986 and its resulting agreements were signed in Marrakesh, Morocco, in April 1994.
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| World Trade Organization (WTO) | The organization that replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) organization as the body that implements GATT, the treaty.
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