In this increasingly globalized scenario, companies need to be globally competitive in order to survive. Knowledge and understanding of different countries’ economies and their market is a must for establishing oneself as a global player. Now the business has gone beyond the boundaries of a nation and has turned into the international business. It’s quite necessary to understand the meaning of international trade and the international organization popularly known as World Trade Organization (WTO) and its contribution towards the international business and smooth trading between countries.
International trade is defined as a contract where two parties (These parties may operate their business in different countries trading in goods and services) enters into the transaction of buying and selling of goods and services irrespective of national boundaries. This involves the import and export trade where one country either sells goods or service to other country or buys goods and service from other country. Followings are the five essentials for such international trades –
The contract of sale of goods.
The contract of carriage of goods.
The contract of insurance for the goods.
The compliance with exports and imports authorities in terms of formalities and documentation required.
The mechanism for payment set up by the buyer.
Since no nation can produce all its needs by itself alone, international trade has become not only a means by which nations source those goods and services they lack or do not have in sufficient quantities but also a subject of international politics either for achieving, promoting or maintaining peace between international trading partners or countries. As a result of external developments in countries with which countries inter-depends or depends on for the essential products and sometimes wars are also fought to preserve the national security. Its has been a common observation