IntroductionUntil the end of the twentieth century, multilateral international trade operated without an international coordinating organization between countries. Some might justify the role of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in multilateral trade since GATT set the rules for the international trading system before the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). However, GATT was just a set of rules set by its trading nations with no institutional basis, and it did not have the same international influence as other international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the Bank worldwide (Krueger & Aturupane 1998). , p. 1). Finally, everything changed in 1994, in an effort to strengthen the international trading system, the GATT was replaced by the WTO after seven years of efforts under the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations. Since the establishment of the WTO, for the first time, the international trading system operates under a strong international organization with fully legal characteristics (eds Rugman & Boyd 2001). The WTO is today based in Geneva, Switzerland. It consists of 159 member countries, of which twenty-four countries are currently candidates and eighty percent of current members are developing countries (WTO 2013). This article argues that the WTO plays a key role as an international organization in the development of multilateral international trade. in terms of laying the foundation for a fair and free global trading system and creating a significantly stable external environment. However, at the same time, there are several challenges waiting to be addressed by the organization. Promoting peace and managing disputes The WTO trading system ...... middle of paper ......oad_e/10b_e. pdf.WTO 2013, WTO members and candidates for accession, report of the organization, accessed on May 21, 2014, extracted from http://www.wto.org.OMC 2001, Trade towards the future, organization's report, accessed May 21, 2014, retrieved from http://www.wto.org. ://www.wto.org.Rugman, A & Boyd, G (eds) 2001, The World Trade Organization in the New Global Economy, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK. Jawara, F & Kwa, A 2003, Behind the scenes 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.